


To Touch the Sun

by Skye_Maxwell



Category: Persona 4, Persona Series
Genre: Alternate Ending, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Anxiety, Cameos from other P4 characters, Chronic Illness, Dating, Drama, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, F/M, Falling In Love, Family, Fix-It of Sorts, Friendship, Happy Ending, Hopeful Ending, Kissing, M/M, Mainly Souyo, Minor Original Character(s), Music, Plans For The Future, Post-Graduation, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Romance, Swimming, Teen Romance, Underage Drinking, midnight sun au, not the vampire one, the bella thorne one
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-22
Updated: 2021-03-06
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:55:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 24
Words: 40,422
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26596396
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skye_Maxwell/pseuds/Skye_Maxwell
Summary: Yosuke Hanamura has a rare disease that prevents him from going outside during the day. He makes the best of his situation, often writing and performing music for his two biggest fans, his doting mother and his childhood best friend Chie. On special nights, he goes down to the train station to perform for passersby, until one fateful night when the boy who Yosuke has been watching pass by his window for years, Souji Seta, shows up. [Updated weekly!]
Relationships: Amagi Yukiko/Satonaka Chie, Hanamura Yosuke/Narukami Yu, Hanamura Yosuke/Seta Souji
Comments: 246
Kudos: 189





	1. Little Chie

**Author's Note:**

> As soon as I saw the movie this is based on, I knew I had to make a Souyo AU for it, largely because of how the main character, Katie, reminded me of Yosuke. The movie is Midnight Sun (the 2018 U.S. version, unrelated to the vampire franchise lol) starring Bella Thorne and Patrick Schwarzenegger. There is a Japanese version of the movie that was made in 2006, but I've only been able to see short clips of it online (and didn't know it was a thing until after I started writing this). The U.S. version takes place in a small-ish suburban town in Washington state, outside Seattle. 
> 
> You don't need to have seen the movie to read this. I put it in the tags, but I want to make this abundantly clear from the beginning: this fic will NOT end like the movie. I'm using this fic to fix some plot/character issues from the movie, as well as to erase and rewrite the movie's ending into a happier one. There may be a few difficult moments along the way, but I assure you the ending will be happy. Also, I am not claiming this is an accurate representation of what living with this disease is actually like; this is based off a Hollywood depiction, so please take it with a grain of salt. 
> 
> And with all that said, please enjoy! This first chapter is a flashback to when Chie and Yosuke were elementary age.

-A DECADE AGO-  
  


Chie was walking home from school on her usual route when she noticed some of her classmates stopped ahead of her in front of a particular house. The three girls were huddled together, and the shortest one (who was the little ringleader of the group and who Chie knew to be a bully and a pretty pathetic person overall) was pointing up at one of the second-floor windows. 

Chie was sure they were up to no good, no doubt talking about the Hanamura boy, Yosuke, who used to be in the same class as all of them. He had stopped coming to school quite suddenly, and everyone had speculated about what the reason might be. Even Chie was curious, but the rumors had grown so ridiculous at this point that she didn’t listen to them anymore. She wished the stupid people of their little town could find something else to talk about. 

The girls hadn’t noticed Chie yet, so she quietly moved closer to hear what they were saying. 

One of the girls exclaimed, “No way! You’re saying Hanamura stopped coming to school because he’s…” 

“Yep, a vampire!” the ringleader said proudly, and Chie immediately wanted to pull her pigtails so hard they’d come right out of her head. “That’s why their house has all those special windows.”

The most timid one said, “But he seemed so normal when he was in class with us…”

“I can’t believe a real-life vampire lives in our town! That’s kinda scary, isn’t it?”

The ringleader said, “Don’t worry, he can’t get us during the day. But if I were you, I’d watch out at night…” 

That was the final straw for Chie, so she stomped toward them, yelling, “Hey! People who don’t know what they’re talking about should shut up! Now get outta my way!” 

She managed to shoulder check and push all three of them out of her path, eliciting a satisfying variety of surprised and angry noises, and then she continued stomping her way all the way up to the front door of the Hanamura house. Feeling the girls’ gazes on her back, she squared her stance, put a hand on her hip, and rang the doorbell repeatedly until a concerned-looking woman cautiously opened the door. 

“Oh, hello there,” the woman said, seeming confused as she looked down at Chie. “Is there something I can help you with?” 

“Yes, there is!” Chie asserted. “I came to find out the truth!” 

“The truth?” the woman asked, frowning as she stepped outside the door and closed it behind herself. 

“Are you Hanamura’s mom?” Chie asked, both hands on her hips now.

“Yes, I’m Yosuke’s mom. And who might you be?”

“I’m Chie Satonaka! Hana… er,  _ Yosuke _ is in my class at school, or he was. Why doesn’t he come to school anymore?”

Mrs. Hanamura sighed, looking down at her feet before she looked back up at Chie. “Well, Chie, he’s sick.”

“Oh, that’s all? That’s not so bad! So when we will he be better?”

“He…” Mrs. Hanamura hesitated, debating on how straightforward she should be with this spunky little girl who had shown up on her doorstep. “Well, he won’t. It’s a kind of long-term sickness, so he has to stay in the house.”

Scratching her head, Chie said, “I don’t get it. What kind of sickness is that?”

“It’s called XP,” Mrs. Hanamura said, opting to tell Chie the truth since that was what she had come for apparently.

“Like Windows XP?”

Mrs. Hanamura couldn’t help but chuckle at that. “No, XP stands for Xeroderma Pigmentosum, which are just big words that mean sunlight hurts Yosuke.”

“It hurts him? You mean like how it hurts my eyes if I look at the sun for too long?”

“Not  _ quite _ like that,” Mrs. Hanamura said, trying to think of a way to explain it that Chie could understand. “Are you allergic to anything, Chie?” 

“Hmm, not really,” Chie said, appearing to be contemplating the question very seriously. “Only vegetarians, I think.” 

Mrs. Hanamura burst out laughing, but she quickly clapped a hand over her mouth to quiet herself down. 

Chie continued, “But my mom is allergic to peanuts! If she even gets close to them, they make her all itchy and wheezy.” 

Mrs. Hanamura nodded. “So it’s kind of like that for Yosuke, except he’s allergic to the light from the sun. If it touches his skin, it hurts him very badly, so he can’t go outside during the day.” 

“Wow, what a bummer!” Chie said, feeling sorry for Yosuke. They hadn’t spoken to each other much in school, but he’d always seemed nice enough. In hindsight, she wished she had talked to him more, because he probably could really use a friend right now. “But hey, what about nighttime? Is he okay to play after the sun goes down?” 

“I suppose, bu—”

“Awesome! I’ll be back tonight!” Chie decided.

“You will?”

“Yeah! If that’s okay, I mean,” Chie said, momentarily remembering to have something like manners and quickly bowing to Mrs. Hanamura. “I wanna be Yosuke’s friend. I don’t really have any friends at school—” she said, shooting a look over her shoulder at the three girls and shouting, “—PROBABLY BECAUSE I DON’T GET ALONG WITH MEAN, STUPID PEOPLE!” 

When Mrs. Hanamura looked up at the three girls, just now noticing them, they squeaked and ran away, scattering like mice. 

Chie went on at a normal volume, “And it must be hard for Yosuke to make friends when he stays in the house all day. So we’re a pretty good match, don’t you think?”

Feeling her guard coming down, Mrs. Hanamura smiled and said, “I suppose you are.” 

“Great! So I’ll see you tonight!” Chie said, already turning on her heel to run home so she could get her homework and chores out of the way. She then called over her shoulder, “Oh, and I like meat! So no salads for dinner, okay? Later!” 

Before she got too far, Chie looked back up at the second-floor window, and she was surprised to see Yosuke peeking over the bottom ledge of the window at her. As soon as they locked eyes, he ducked his head and disappeared from view, but a few seconds later, his head popped back up, eyes full of curiosity. 

Laughing, Chie waved wildly up at him and yelled as loudly as she could, “I’ll be back later, Hanamura! I promise!” 

He seemed confused at first, but then he smiled shyly and raised his hand in a small wave. 

For some reason, that little gesture made Chie feel warm inside, like it was the first step of what would be a great friendship.


	2. A Pretty Great Life

-PRESENT DAY-

  
“And _that_ is the story of how little Chie Satonaka stomped her way into our lives,” Mrs. Hanamura concluded before popping another dumpling in her mouth. 

Through a mouthful of lo mein, Yosuke said, “That’s one of my favorite stories.” 

“Mine too!” Chie said from beside him. “My favorite part of that story is the protagonist. She’s totally badass!” 

She finished off her beef spare ribs, burped, and then sighed happily as she swung her legs up over Yosuke’s lap. 

“And little Chie Satonaka has been making herself comfortable ever since,” Yosuke teased, elbowing her before returning to his lo mein, now using her shin as a table. 

“Psh, you guys love me,” Chie said, very sure of herself. 

“That we do,” Mrs. Hanamura agreed. “I don’t know what we would have done without our precious, darling little Chie!” 

Yosuke and Chie both snorted. 

“Good one, Mom,” Yosuke said.

“Yeah, that was a good one, Mrs. H,” Chie agreed, laughing at the ridiculous notion of her being a ‘darling little’ anything. 

“What can I say?” Mrs. Hanamura said with a shrug. “My excellent sense of humor comes naturally—it’s probably my most attractive quality.” 

Yosuke stared blankly into his takeout box and slowly set down his chopsticks. “Is that… what Dad was attracted to?” 

For a moment, the room went uncomfortably silent.

“I’m sorry to bring him up, especially when we were having fun and all…” 

“Hey, don’t apologize,” his mom said, reaching over to squeeze his knee. “You know we can always talk about anything that’s on your mind.”

Yosuke nodded. “It’s just, I’ve been having that dream about him again lately.” 

Chie asked gently, “How did it go again?” 

Chie had never gotten to meet Yosuke’s dad, since he’d died when Yosuke was little. She only knew him through Mrs. Hanamura’s stories and her photographs of him, and through the handful of memories Yosuke still had of him. The memories Yosuke did have were vivid, and he spoke about his father with such warmth that Chie dearly wished she’d gotten to know him. 

Yosuke rested the back of his head against the old leather couch and closed his eyes, recalling the image from his recurring dream. 

“It’s the middle of the day. I’m little again, sitting in Dad’s lap by the water. He has his arms around me, and he’s holding his guitar. My hands are small, but I try and stretch my fingers as far as I can to make the chords, and Dad strums away and sings to me. The sun is high in the sky, and I feel its warmth on my skin, and I feel so happy and content that I just… I want it to last forever.”

Yosuke slowly opened his eyes and sighed. 

“But the dream always ends, because it has to, right?”

Chie scooted closer and put her head on his shoulder. “It’s a nice dream, Yosuke.”

“Yeah. But waking up isn’t so bad,” Yosuke said, trying to be cheerful. “I’ve got you two, after all—the best mom in the world and the best friend in the world.” 

“That’s right!” Chie agreed happily. 

“And you’re the best son in the world,” Mrs. Hanamura stated matter-of-factly. 

Yosuke didn’t know if he agreed with that, since he was always giving his mom so much trouble, but he wasn’t about to dispute her claim out loud. 

“All things considered,” Yosuke said, looking between his mom and Chie, “I’ve got a pretty great life.” 

His mom smiled softly at him and then said, “I’m glad you feel that way, Sweet Potato. Now finish your lo mein. You never finish your lo mein!” 

She stood up from her leather recliner (her husband had picked out the ugly leather furniture, but after he passed she couldn’t bear to get rid of it, even when it started falling apart) and started to clean up, picking up all the containers from their Chinese takeout binge, which had become somewhat of a tradition for the three of them.

Chie snickered, “Yeah, _Sweet Potato,_ finish your lo mein.” 

“Yeah yeah, whatever,” Yosuke said, poking at his remaining noodles with his chopsticks. “Why do you still call me that, Mom?”

“Sweet Potato? Because when you were born, you were round and lumpy, like a sweet potato!”

Like always, Chie laughed way too hard at that explanation, while Yosuke just groaned in embarrassment.

“No, Mom, I know _why_ you call me that; I'm asking why you _still_ call me that.”

“You haven't become any less sweet of a potato as you've grown up, now have you?”

“He sure hasn't, Mrs. H!” Chie exclaimed, poking Yosuke's side. “He might be even sweeter now than when he was a lumpy little baby!”

“You didn't know me when I was a lumpy little baby!” Yosuke pouted into his takeout box.

“Well, your dad knew you, and he agreed that you were a sweet potato. Oh! To answer your earlier question,” Mrs. Hanamura said as she walked away toward the kitchen, “Yes, my excellent sense of humor _i_ _s_ what attracted your father to me! That, and my good looks, and my killer intellect, and my impressive photography skills…”

Her list trailed off as she got farther away, and Yosuke and Chie shared a laugh. 

“Well, with a mom as extraordinary as that, you _have_ to have a pretty great life!” 

“Hey, I really meant that,” Yosuke said. “My life _is_ great. I can only think of a few things that would make it better.” 

“A few things, eh?” Chie said, lifting her head to look at him. “And what might those be?”

“Nothing that would surprise _you,_ darling little Chie. I have but a few humble dreams!” Yosuke said grandly, raising his chopsticks into the air. “The first, of course, is to hear one of my songs on the radio, just so, y’know, the world won’t be so starved for my music.”

“Naturally,” Chie agreed, playing along. “That’s a kind dream you have, of feeding the world with your songs.”

“Yes, you’re right; I _am_ extremely kind!”

“All right, go on, what’s your next humble dream?” 

“I wanna leave this town. Not permanently, of course, since I’m needed here by all my admirers and fans,” Yosuke said, gesturing around to the mostly empty living room, “but I want to go somewhere I’ve never been, which is everywhere _but_ here.”

“That is more than understandable, my friend. But if you go, you’ve gotta take me with you.”

“Psh, I wouldn't dare leave you behind, lest I incur the wrath of Chie!”

 _“Lest I incur the wrath?_ Have you been reading weird old poetry again?”

“Hey, it helps my songwriting game! Don’t hate!” 

Chie raised her hands in surrender. “I’m not hating. With all the reading you do, you’re like, half of an encyclopedia, but like, the weird, obscure half. It’s impressive, really.”

“Gee, thanks,” Yosuke scoffed. 

“And hey, I kinda like the way ‘the wrath of Chie’ sounds. It has a nice ring to it.”

“You _would_ like it,” Yosuke laughed. “Maybe that can be the title of your first biopic?” 

“Oh man, that’s perfect!” Chie exclaimed. “Now _I’m_ starting to have a few humble dreams… _The Wrath of Chie,_ coming soon to a theater near you!” she announced, lifting her leg from Yosuke’s lap and violently kicking the air. “Hi-yah!”

“Hey!” Yosuke yelped, flinching away from Chie’s deadly kick. “I’m not gonna live to see any of my humble dreams if you kick my head off!”

“Whoops, got a little excited there,” Chie said, putting her leg back down. “Anyways, what was your third humble dream?” 

“I want…” Yosuke started, but then he abruptly cut himself off. “Uh, actually, that’s enough of my dreams for now.”

“No, what were you gonna say?” Chie asked, sitting up straight to look at him more directly.

“Nothing!” 

_“Riiiight._ Does your third dream happen to have silky grey hair and swoon-worthy grey eyes?” 

“N-no!” Yosuke lied, but after looking at Chie’s smug, knowing face, he quietly amended, “Yes.”

“Bahaha, you’re so cute, _Hana-chan!”_ Chie said, crooning the nickname she had pinned on him soon after they became friends and pinching his red cheek. “You should see your face!” 

_“Stoooop,”_ Yosuke whined. “You definitely don’t need to remind me how pathetic I am. I _feel_ it every day when he bikes home from school and I make _sure_ I’m at the window to watch him go by. Pathetic.” 

“It’s not _completely_ pathetic!” Chie tried. “It’s… romantic?” 

“Because being a romantic creeper is _totally_ better than being a regular ol' creeper.”

“There you go! That’s the spirit!” 

“Ugh, Chie, I’ve been watching him for however-many years—”

“Watching him _and_ pining after him!”

Not denying that, Yosuke groaned, “And he doesn’t even know I exist.” 

“You could always _make_ him know you exist.” 

“You know I can’t, Chie,” Yosuke said, setting down his leftover lo mein that he’d picked all the meat and veggies out of. “Even if I could, a guy like that would never be interested in someone like me.”

“You don’t know that!”

“I _do_ know that. He’s good-looking and athletic and popular; a guy like that would never want anything to do with the town vampire.” 

“Hey, you know I don’t like the vampire talk,” Chie warned. “You’re not a vampire. You’re _my_ best friend, which means you are the cream of the crop when it comes to human beings—the _sweetest_ of potatoes! You deserve every single one of your dreams, including having the love of your life love you back. And don’t you dare try to argue with me about that!” 

Yosuke bit his tongue and then smiled fondly at Chie. “Okay. If darling little Chie Satonaka says I deserve a single on the radio, and to travel wherever I want, and the love of none other than _Souji freakin'_ _Seta_ himself, then it must be so.”

“It _is_ so,” Chie said with a nod, content with his answer. “Now give me the rest of that lo mein; I’m still hungry.” 

“Are you implying there's an end to your hunger? I’ve never known you to not be hungry.” 

“Then hand the lo mein over faster, sheesh!” 

Yosuke held his leftovers and chopsticks out to her, but before he let her take them, he looked her in the eyes and said, “I love you, Chie.” 

“As you should!” Chie said, snagging the takeout container from him. 

“I was being serious!” 

“I know,” Chie said, using his chopsticks to stuff lo mein into her mouth. “I love you too, you big dork.”

Yosuke beamed happily, satisfied with that, and while Chie rolled her eyes at how pure it was, she would never change Yosuke’s innocence, or anything about him; she wouldn’t trade the friendship they’d cultivated over the years in the shadows of the Hanamura home for anything in the world. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yosuke's character in the movie (Katie) lost her mom when she was little, and it's a really important part of the story/who Katie is, so I couldn't leave it out. I am so sorry, Papa-mura, I love you and you are alive and well in all my other universes, RIP, I promise I will honor your memory. 🙏


	3. The Graduation Ceremony

Yosuke was sitting on his bed in his darkened bedroom, illuminated only by the bright light from his laptop screen. He was halfheartedly watching the livestream of the Yasogami High graduation ceremony, but it was even more boring than Chie had said it would be. The parade of seniors had to wait forever for their names to be called just so they could walk across a little outdoor stage and receive a rolled-up piece of paper and a stiff handshake.

Still, as they got to the H last names, Yosuke fidgeted with the hem of his favorite pajama shirt (a white sleeveless tee that Chie had gifted him, with a print of a kitten peeking out from the chest pocket), a little sad knowing that if it weren’t for his XP, he would be walking across that very stage right now in the afternoon sun with everyone else his age. 

Though, as the ceremony droned on at a snail’s pace, he became less and less sad he wasn’t a part of it. From what Chie always told him, going to normal school was overrated anyways. Being home-schooled by his mom, who was much more lax than those odd Yasogami teachers Chie always complained about, was a gift, really.

Yosuke almost nodded off a couple times while he waited for them to get to the latter half of the alphabet. He was usually asleep in the middle of the day when his mom was at work, but today had been a special exception. Luckily, Yosuke only cared about seeing two people out of this whole ceremony, and they happened to have last names that put them right next to each other. 

When they finally called “Chie Satonaka!” Yosuke cheered as enthusiastically as if he was there in the crowd, watching proudly as his best friend stomped across the stage like she owned it. After she got her diploma and handshake, she smiled at her family (who were easily located in the crowd thanks to two of her particularly loud male cousins from out of town) and then straight at the camera, waving and sticking her tongue out at Yosuke, who she knew was watching. 

Yosuke laughed shortly, trying not to get choked up as he waved back at the laptop screen. 

“Souji Seta!” 

Yosuke’s attention snapped to the other side of the screen as many in the crowd of students erupted into cheers, some of them even standing up and clapping for Souji. 

“You stupidly hot angel…” Yosuke sighed helplessly as he watched his dream boy walk across the stage. 

Once again, Yosuke was forced to just watch Souji go by, and just like he often wished Souji would look up at his window instead of breezing by on his bike, he currently found himself wishing Souji would turn and smile at the camera like Chie had, just for him.

Souji’s energy didn’t match that of his peers though; he seemed oddly numb to the cheering, wearing a neutral expression that made Yosuke frown in concern. It was true that Souji always had a rather neutral resting face anyways, but this one seemed to be put on somehow. He usually seemed more at ease, confident and comfortable in his own skin. 

“What's wrong, Souji?” Yosuke asked out loud. “It's your graduation day. Look, everyone loves you!”

Yosuke would have to ask Chie for intel later, but she was always saying the two of them ‘ran in different circles,’ which meant she usually didn’t have the intimate details about Souji’s personal life that Yosuke so craved. She hated rumors too, so while the rumor mill was nearly unavoidable in their town (something Yosuke’s mom also had quite the disdain for), Chie would never pass around rumors that she couldn’t personally confirm. So, even if she had heard things about Souji floating around, she really didn’t care enough to engage, which was fair enough since she wasn’t the one who was obsessed with him.

As Yosuke watched Souji leave the stage, looking detached the whole time, he said, “I guess you’ll just always remain a mystery to me, Souji Seta. But even if you're not happy for yourself, I'm happy for you. You worked hard all these years, and I'm proud of you. Congratulations.” 

Before he could get too caught up (again) in mourning how he wouldn’t be seeing Souji walk past his window anymore, a voice outside his bedroom door yelled in an announcer-like fashion, “Yosuke Hanamura!” 

Mrs. Hanamura threw the door open dramatically and flipped on the lights, making Yosuke wince even as he laughed at her. She was wearing a cap and gown, and she spun around once to show it off in all its billowy splendor.

“Mom! How dare you come in here looking so beautiful without so much as a warning! I’m blinded by your radiance!” Yosuke joked as his eyes adjusted to the lights and he quickly reached out to shut his laptop. 

“I’m sorry, my dear Sweet Potato, but sometimes you have to make a moment for yourself at the expense of everyone else!” she declared.

“Is this seriously happening right now?” Yosuke asked, chuckling as he gestured to his mom’s getup. “This is what we’re doing?”

“Indeed it is! The faculty and staff—” she paused, sitting on the edge of Yosuke’s bed and plopping a graduation cap on top of his head, “—always wear caps and gowns for graduation! Well, caps and _ gown,  _ since they only had one left at the costume store, but you’re more than welcome to borrow mine—” 

“This is just fine,” Yosuke interrupted, adjusting the cap on his head so it didn’t flatten his hair so much. “But I thought you weren’t gonna make a big deal about graduation?” 

“Only because you told me not to!” Mrs. Hanamura pouted. “And this  _ is _ me not making a big deal about it! I scrapped the giant confetti cannon, the smoke machine, the ten-tier cake…” 

Yosuke hesitantly asked, “You did get…  _ a _ cake, didn’t you?”

Mrs. Hanamura gave a charmed laugh, eyes sparkling with how cute her son was. “Yes, Sweet Potato, I had Chie set aside your favorite ice cream cake. A  _ one-tier _ ice cream cake.” 

“Perfect,” Yosuke said with a grin. 

“Yes, perfect, just as I thought, mhm,” Mrs. Hanamura hummed in approval. She then produced a rolled-up piece of paper and handed it over to Yosuke. “More importantly, this, good sir, is for you.”

Yosuke unrolled the paper, finding a very homemade diploma with ‘HANAMURA HIGH SCHOOL’ printed across the top. Yosuke’s full name was printed below clip art of what appeared to be a very fancy school building, and at the bottom of the diploma next to his mom’s signature were a bunch of stickers. Yosuke recognized the stickers (metallic stars and smiling cats and rainbow hearts) from his mom’s sticker collection, as she had been regularly affixing them to his tests and homework (though he would always argue that  _ all _ of his work was  _ home _ work) since he was a kid. 

“Wow, this is…” Yosuke said, staring at the diploma and then lifting his head to smirk at his mom, “… _ incredibly _ scholarly.” 

“Isn’t it, though?” his mom agreed excitedly. 

“It is, it really is. I’m honored, truly.”

“Well, you deserve it. And now… speech!”

“Speech?”

“Of course! You’re the valedictorian—congrats, by the way—so now you have to give the speech you prepared!” 

“Oh!” Yosuke exclaimed, feigning surprise. “Of course! Well okay then, here we go! Let me just put on my glasses real quick so I look as scholarly as this moment deserves…” he said, setting his diploma down and grabbing his orange glasses (a simple pair of computer glasses since he spent so much of his time staring at screens) off of his nightstand. 

As Yosuke adjusted his glasses on the bridge of his nose, his mom nodded, saying, “Mhm, yep, nice touch…” 

“Lady and germs!” Yosuke began grandly, gesturing first to his mother and then to the rest of his bedroom. “Thank you for coming to celebrate this momentous occasion with me! Being the only student at Hanamura High School may have been a factor in my becoming valedictorian, but I also believe it was due in part to my own superior intellect, and more importantly, the tireless dedication of the Hanamura High faculty and staff!” 

“Oh no, I forgot to bring my tissues,” Mrs. Hanamura pretend-sniffled, wiping at her eyes with her floppy sleeve. 

“First and foremost, I would like to thank my principal…”

“Oh, shucks, you don’t have to…”

“...and my Spanish teacher…” 

“¡Por supuesto, mi estudiante favorito!”

“…and my English teacher…”

In a horrible British accent, Mrs. Hanamura said, “Ah, ‘twas my pleasure, my dearest and most studious pupil.” 

“…but for the record, I would like to formally state that my PE teacher was rather unorthodox in her methods.” 

“Hey, if doing yoga, swinging weapons, and running around in circles in the backyard isn’t PE, then I don’t know what is.” 

“Well,  _ namaste,” _ Yosuke said, bowing, “and here's to hoping that I am never tasked with running in a straight line.” 

“Me either. Running is the worst. But hey, if you ever need to stab someone, you know how to do it! You’re welcome,” Mrs. Hanamura said, pulling an envelope out of her gown and extending it to Yosuke. “Now this is from me, as your beloved mother.”

“Ooh, the anticipation is killing me,” Yosuke said as he ripped the envelope open. 

On the front of the card was a very fat, very fluffy cat wearing a graduation cap and sitting on a diploma. 

_ “Con-cat-ulations, grad,” _ Yosuke read, and then he flipped the card open to where his mom had drawn a picture of a smiling sweet potato. _ “I yam so proud of you. Love, Mommy.” _

Yosuke looked at his mother, who was staring at him expectantly, looking like she was about to burst. 

“Mom, this card is… awful. It’s horrible, and lame, and… wow.” 

“Yes!” she exclaimed, pumping her fist victoriously. “I searched high and low for a card that  _ excruciatingly _ lame! And don’t get me started on how many hours I spent on the yam thing.  _ You _ are welcome,” she said, poking the tip of Yosuke’s nose. 

“Thank you,” Yosuke said genuinely, taking his glasses off and sliding them into his kitten pocket. “I see your efforts, and I appreciate them.” 

“Okay, are you ready for your gift?”

“What? A gift? I’ve already received so much!” Yosuke said, gesturing to the diploma and the card. “Not to mention the excellent, comprehensive, life-altering education I’ve gotten! It’s all too much!” 

“Nothing is too much for my Yosuke!” Mrs. Hanamura said, jumping off the bed so she could go grab something she had placed just outside Yosuke’s door. 

“Well, if that’s the case, then bring on the present!” 

She came back in wearing a soft smile and toting an old leather guitar case adorned with a big orange bow. 

Yosuke’s mouth fell open, and his heart skipped a beat. As his mom got closer, he was able to visually confirm that the guitar case was indeed one that he had seen in person a long time ago (and in his dreams many times since).

His mom set the case on the bed in front of him, and as he stared at it in shock, he said, “This is Dad’s.” 

He could almost feel the heat of the sun that always made its way into his recurring dream of his father singing to him by the water. 

“It was in storage for a long time,” Mrs. Hanamura said almost guiltily, “but I got it out and had it cleaned up and tuned up and restrung or whatever you call it…” 

“I can’t believe this,” Yosuke whispered as he removed the bow and popped the case open, his heart stopping again as his eyes roved over his father’s old acoustic guitar. 

“I know it’s old, and you already have a guitar so this might be redundant, so if you want a better gift, I totally understand…”

“No!” Yosuke cried, jumping up and throwing his arms around her neck. “This is the best gift of all time! Thank you so much! I love it! I love you! Thank you!”

Mrs. Hanamura squeezed him back, trying not to get emotional even as Yosuke pulled away and plopped back on the bed to pick up the guitar, pure joy written all over his face. 

As he began to strum a few chords, she said wistfully, “You look just like your dad.” 

Yosuke’s mouth fell open again as he looked up at her, and he wondered if it could be true, that he could resemble someone so wonderful as his father. 

“Lucky for you,” his mom said, a dorky smile coming over her face. “He was hot.” 

“Gross,” Yosuke said, crinkling his nose at her. 

She came over and planted a kiss on top of his head. “Congratulations, Sweet Potato. Now try and get some sleep, okay?”

“After all this excitement? I may never be able to sleep again!” Yosuke joked, but in all reality, it really was going to be hard to sleep now that he had his dad’s guitar in his hands. 

“I know, I did so great of a job with your graduation ceremony,” Mrs. Hanamura sighed as she glided toward the door. “But at least  _ try _ to sleep. If you’re lucky, maybe you’ll dream of this whole graduation ceremony happening again. Because, y'know, it was so great.”

“You’re really something, Mom,” Yosuke laughed as she slowly closed the door, watching him fondly with his guitar. 

“Thank you, and you’re welcome,” she said with one last flourish before shutting the door completely. 

“Love you!” Yosuke called. 

“Love you too!” 

Yosuke smiled and looked down at his dad’s (now his) guitar. 

“Yeah,” he said softly to himself. “My life is pretty great.”


	4. The Dark Room

Yosuke was woken up that evening by the sounds of car horns and shouting. When he went to his window to investigate, he saw it was just a bunch of kids his age making the noise, all of them smiling and laughing and hanging all over each other. 

“That’s right—you graduated today,” Yosuke said sullenly. “Of course you’re out celebrating.” 

He tried his hardest to be optimistic when he could, but some days it was more of a fight than other days. 

He turned away from the window, looking around his bedroom for a distraction. The first thing he saw was his trusty headphones sitting on his desk, and he briefly considered just putting them on, turning his music on full blast, and drowning out the rest of the world. 

Then his gaze wandered over to his beautiful new guitar just sitting by his bedside waiting to be played, and he suddenly got a much better idea. 

With a new burst of energy, he strapped the guitar on and threw his bedroom door open, on a mission to find his mom. He could hear her humming to herself down the hallway, so he bolted towards the open door of the dark room where she developed her photos.

He was about to barge in, but then her cheerful humming abruptly stopped, causing his burst of energy to go on pause as he quietly peeked into the room. 

His mom was using tongs to hang up a photo she had just developed, placing it on a line so it could dry safely. 

Yosuke couldn’t see the photo because his mom was blocking his view of it, so he took a moment to look around at the myriad of other photos hanging in the room—he could never get tired of looking at them. 

A lot of the photos were of himself, some were him and Chie, and a handful had all three of them together. Some photos were of plants, animals, and landmarks around their town, and an even smaller section of older photos were from his mom’s travels, back from when she used to be able to travel. Those photos were some of his favorites, despite the bittersweet feelings that accompanied looking at them. 

The only photos he liked better were of his father. Yosuke wasn’t sure how the photos his mom took of his dad—the angles and lighting she chose to capture him in, and the other artistic nuances Yosuke couldn’t even begin to articulate—could so strongly convey her love for him, but they did. 

Unfortunately, in order to see most of those photos, Yosuke had to dig into the photo albums, since they only had a couple of photos of his dad out on display. One lived in Yosuke’s bedroom (a handsome portrait taken before Yosuke was born), and one was in the living room (a family photo of the three of them). 

Yosuke also happened to know that his mom kept one particular photo in the drawer of her nightstand, but he’d never had the heart to ask why she didn’t just keep the photo out. It had her and Yosuke’s dad standing out by the water on a beautiful, sunny day (and a windy one too, judging by his mom’s hair and skirt flowing behind her), not long before Yosuke’s dad passed. It looked like it had started off as a staged photo from the way they were holding each other, but neither one of them was looking at the camera. Instead they were looking at each other and laughing hard. They had always been total goofs around each other, so it wasn’t hard for Yosuke to imagine them not being able to stay serious for a posed photo. Yosuke assumed she had used a tripod and put the camera on a timer, which probably explained why the two of them weren’t perfectly centered and it was the tiniest bit blurry, since the camera wasn’t in his expert mother’s hands.

Yosuke’s mom stepped back to stare at the photo she’d just hung, so Yosuke took the opportunity to sneak closer for a better look. 

It was a close-up photo of his own profile—he was looking out his bedroom window, and the waning, filtered sunlight was lighting up his face. While he couldn’t understand his mom’s obsession with his face, he had to admit from an artistic standpoint that it was a pretty darn good photo. 

When he looked at his mom’s face, however, he was surprised to see she looked sad, almost like she missed him. 

_Hey, lighten up, you just saw me a few hours ago,_ he wanted to joke, maybe loudly enough to startle her, but then he realized she might be wearing that mournful look on her face for reasons that were way too sad to joke about. 

He had to distract her, he realized, and doing what he came here to do happened to be a perfect distraction. 

He took a couple steps back and knocked gently on the door, but she still jumped a little before spinning around to look at him. Her expression quickly melted into a soft smile, however, as she took in the sight of him standing in the doorway with his guitar. 

“Question: how do I look?” he asked with a grin as he approached her. 

Quickly switching modes, his mom said animatedly, “You look like a million—no—a _billion_ buckaroonies!” 

Yosuke chuckled. “I wonder what the conversion rate is for dollars to buckaroonies.” 

“Buckaroonies are worth more, definitely,” his mom said with a firm nod. 

“Okay, follow-up question: would it be fair to withhold all that wealth from the rest of the world?” 

“Are you trying to manipulate me?” she asked, narrowing her eyes at him. “Because you’re very cute, and it’s working.” 

“Cute?” Yosuke whined. “I was going for cool!” 

“Oh yeah, that too! You look super, super cool. Now tell Mommy what you want, my little Cutie Patootie.” 

Yosuke groaned. “Mom, that’s even worse than Sweet Potato! And _please_ do not start about how _when you were a baby, your patootie was soooo cute…”_

“Aw, you’re so cute when you’re exasperated,” his mom crooned, apparently not about to let up in the slightest. “Now hurry up and ask what you came to ask while I’m still overwhelmed by your cuteness.”

“Can I go to the train station tonight?” Yosuke finally blurted out before backtracking a bit. “I mean, I have to appease my fans by playing a set on my wonderful, amazing new guitar that I got today, right? Normally I would just have Chie over and do a private concert for you guys, but she’s busy with her family tonight, and as much as I love playing just for you, I’ve gotta practice rocking venues other than our house if I’m gonna make it big! And Daidara will be there like usual, so he’ll be looking out for me, and I know it’s kinda late—”

“It’s already 10 o’clock,” his mom interjected, frowning at her watch. 

“—but I just graduated today! Don’t you think that warrants a curfew extension? Please? Please please please?” 

“Okay, okay!” his mom relented. “You’re too cute, it’s so unfair. I will extend your curfew by _one_ hour, so that means your sweet patootie _better_ be back here by midnight.”

“Thank you, Mom!” Yosuke exclaimed excitedly, swinging the guitar around to his back so he could throw his arms around her. 

“Dang tall Sweet Potato…” she grumbled as she hugged him back, “…asking me for things all cute-like when he knows I can’t resist, freakin’ Cutie Patootie, so unfair…” 

“It’ll be okay, Mom,” he laughed as he pulled away. “I’ll text you as soon as I get there!” 

“You better! And if you forget this time, I’m not just gonna call Daidara. I’m gonna march down there myself and pull you home by the ear!”

“I won’t forget, promise!” Yosuke called as he retreated from the dark room. 

“But if you do forget, I _will_ come down there!” she called after him. “I’ll embarrass you so hard, it’ll be the headline on the front page of tomorrow’s newspaper!” 

“Love you too, Mom!” he called from his room as he packed his guitar up in its case and snatched his songwriting notebook off his desk. 

“Be safe! Text me! Say no to drugs!” she yelled as she peeked into the hall.

When he emerged from his room, she saw that he had changed clothes in record time, and then he was bolting toward the stairs, looking like a disheveled (yet adorable) mess. 

“Don’t worry, Mom! I always say no every single time drugs are offered to me. Bye!” 

“Hey!” she suddenly yelled, causing Yosuke to halt at the top of the stairs. 

“Yeah?” 

Crossing her arms, she said softly, “Have fun.” 

“I will!” Yosuke said, smiling widely at her before taking off down the stairs. “Thanks, Mom!” 

She sighed and leaned against the wall, listening as Yosuke ran through the front door, slamming it behind himself in his excitement. 

“You’re welcome, my Sweet Potato,” she said quietly, and then she made her way back to the dark room so she could stare at his photo a little while longer and wait for him to text her. 


	5. Take on the World

Yosuke stepped out of the train station building and onto the platform, toting his guitar case and gliding up to the ticket booth. He knocked gently on the glass so as to not startle Daidara, who was fiddling with something small, metal, and dangerous-looking. 

Daidara quickly started to hide the object until he glanced up and realized it was Yosuke. He calmed immediately, and a warm smile spread over his face, flattening out the curve of his signature auburn moustache. 

“How goes it, Daidara?” Yosuke asked, grinning at one of his best (and only) friends in town. 

Daidara replied good-naturedly, “I was wondering if you’d show that mug of yours around here tonight!”

“I wouldn’t miss it! I could never disappoint all of my fans,” Yosuke said, gesturing around to the nearly empty platform.

Daidara chuckled, returning to what he had been working on. “Well, you’ve got one fan here, kid. And the next train’s coming soon, so I’m sure you’ll have a few more before the night’s over.”

Yosuke couldn’t help but smile brightly at his friend’s unwavering support of him and his music. 

Patting his guitar case, Yosuke said, “Thanks, man. Me and this guitar are gonna make you proud one day.” 

Before Daidara got the chance to reply with a heartfelt ‘you always make me proud,’ Yosuke asked, “Hey, what’s that you’re tinkering with there?”

“Oh, this? It’s just… my art. Nothing lethal, that’s for sure,” Daidara said with a wink. 

“It never is!” Yosuke laughed, very used to Daidara and his penchant for dangerous weapons by now (a trait he shared with Yosuke's mother), though Yosuke did still find it funny since Daidara, despite his intimidating appearance, was actually a really kind and peaceful guy. “Well, you keep on working on your _art,_ and I’ll work on mine,” Yosuke said, walking toward his favorite old crate to sit and do his performances on. 

Daidara called after him, “Hey! Text your mother!” 

“I know, I know!” Yosuke replied, setting his guitar case down and making a show of pulling out his phone. “I’m doing it right now!”

“You joke, but I’m not about to get an earful from her again!”

Yosuke groaned. “That was one time! I forgot _one_ time!”

Daidara stood up from his seat, leaned over his desk, and yelled through the hole in the glass, “If she comes down here, I’m hiding in the back room!” 

“She’ll still find you!” Yosuke laughed, sending the text off to his mom and then sitting down to unpack his guitar. 

He then opened his songwriting notebook to the first song he’d be playing, though at this point he didn’t really need to look at the words or the chords much. He had a vague idea of how he wanted the night’s set to go, but he always liked to leave room for a little spontaneity, so he could play whatever felt right in the moment. He’d mostly be doing some of his tried and true favorites, but since it was a special night, he figured he’d also premiere a new song he’d just finished working on as well. 

As he started to strum the new strings on his dad’s guitar and heard the way the instrument sounded in the space, he grinned at how perfect it sounded to him compared to his old guitar. He figured it might be partially due to the sentiment attached to it, but that was hardly a bad thing. It was a piece of his past, but it was also something that could help move him toward his future, which he found extremely poetic (maybe he could write a song about it later, if he didn’t forget to jot this idea down after his mini-concert). 

Yosuke started picking the intro to the song, getting into the rhythm of it and letting his hand glide unthinkingly up and down the neck of the guitar as he prepared to start singing. 

He was unaware that Daidara immediately started humming along in his booth, since he was familiar with all of Yosuke’s songs. 

Midway through his second song, Yosuke really started to hit his stride, and that’s when he heard the whistle and rumble of the train approaching. 

He’d learned to stay focused and play through this—how to be in tune with himself and not get distracted, how to keep his hands steady even as the platform shook beneath him. He figured it was good practice, because you never knew what kinds of crazy stuff might go down during a live show. 

As the train slowed to a stop and passengers started to trickle onto the platform, Yosuke launched into another chorus, energized by the arrival of new listeners. 

Most of the people just spared him a curious look as they breezed by, but some stopped briefly to listen, and a few people even tossed some coins into his guitar case. 

Yosuke was surprised when a little girl cautiously came up and stood a few feet in front of him, clearly intrigued by the music. She seemed shy at first, but when Yosuke flashed her a smile during a brief part when he wasn’t singing, she easily returned the smile. 

Another person threw a few coins into his case before walking away, which made the little girl frown briefly.

Yosuke immediately understood what she was thinking, and while he wanted to assure her that it was perfectly fine that she didn’t have any change to give him, he was in the middle of a verse. 

The girl, however, brightened up suddenly, reaching into her Magical Detective Loveline backpack and pulling out a pack of share size peanut M&Ms. She happily tossed it into the case, and Yosuke felt his heart melt into a warm puddle. Maybe he’d have to write a song about her too. 

“Nanako! There you are!” a man yelled, rushing over to the little girl’s side. 

She held a finger to her lips to silence the man (who Yosuke guessed was her father), and Yosuke had to laugh internally at how quickly the man quieted down in response.

The man looked between Yosuke and his daughter and the pack of M&Ms in Yosuke’s case a couple times before seeming to put the pieces together. He then silently took out his wallet and pulled out a folded ten-dollar bill, tossing it into the case. He gave Yosuke a stiff nod before taking his daughter’s hand and leading her away. 

“You shouldn’t wander off like that,” he told her quietly, apparently still respecting her wish to not be too loud and disrupt Yosuke.

“Sorry, Daddy!” she whispered back, still in good spirits as she clung to his hand. “He just sounded so pretty…”

“Yes, he’s a talented young man.”

“Can I have a guitar, Daddy?”

“Uh, how about you ask your mother?” he suggested with a short laugh. “She’s inside the train station looking for you.”

“Oh, I hope she’s not worried! Let’s hurry, Daddy!” Nanako said, suddenly taking off and dragging her dad forward. 

After that interaction, Yosuke felt like he could take on the world. Plus, the platform was as full as it was going to get at that time of night with passengers both coming and going, which meant it was the perfect time for the world premiere of his new song. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Initially I didn't have Nanako's mom in there at the end, but then I was reading Treya's [P4 Pride & Prejudice AU](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18143921/chapters/42901628) (highly recommended, btw), and she revived a certain character and I was like, "😱🤯 You can totally do that in AUs! Amazing!"


	6. The Big Beach Bash

It was graduation night, and everybody who had been anybody at Yasogami High was at the big beach bash. 

As Souji sat on a log by himself, a ways away from the main bonfire, he was starting to wish he hadn’t been ‘anybody’ at Yasogami.

He had been sipping from the same can of soda for about half an hour now, watching everyone else from his senior class drink like there was no tomorrow (and for some of them, there really might not be a tomorrow, because alcohol poisoning was a thing). Souji couldn’t judge them too harshly though; not everyone had a life-changing incident keeping them sober like he did. 

He watched people stripping off layers and running into the cold water; he watched a number of failed flirtations and a couple of successful ones; he watched some of the athletes taking turns running and jumping over the main bonfire and then slamming down beers in celebration. 

He watched his friend Kou jump over the fire, and while Kou was typically a pretty level-headed guy, once he got alcohol into his system, his enthusiasm tended to go a little over the top. After Kou chugged his celebratory beer, he crushed the can on his forehead, eliciting cheers from onlookers (though they probably missed the wince and then the moment of dizziness that Souji saw in Kou’s eyes). Then Kou tried to drag his childhood best friend (also Souji’s friend), Daisuke, toward the fire, but Daisuke, while also seeming on the tipsy side, ardently refused to make the jump. For whatever reason, alcohol made Kou less restrained, and it made Daisuke more restrained. 

Souji’s thoughts circled back to the dismal place they couldn’t help returning to again and again, and he wished his alcohol response had been more like Daisuke’s. Daisuke was right to stand his ground; he was right not to jump. Jumping was dangerous. 

“Hey, you’re doing the thing again,” Daisuke said from right in front of Souji, alerting Souji to the fact that he had spaced out hardcore and hadn’t even noticed Daisuke approaching. 

“The _thing?”_ Souji asked tiredly, watching as Kou, to no one’s surprise, also made his way over. 

“Yeah, the _thing_ you’ve been doing ever since, y’know…” Daisuke caught himself and frowned as he struggled to find different words. “It’s the _thing_ where you sit by yourself and stare into the distance and look all sad. It makes _me_ sad. Just come hang out with us, man.” 

“Yeah, chug one down and come hang out!” Kou agreed, holding out a can of beer. 

“No thank you,” Souji said as politely as he could manage, not moving an inch. 

“He doesn’t want that,” Daisuke whispered to Kou (even though it wasn’t nearly quiet enough for Souji to not hear), pushing his friend’s arm down. 

Knowing exactly what Souji was sad about and not about to dance around the subject like Daisuke was, Kou said, “Dude. You dodged a _bullet!_ College wasn’t gonna be fun anyways, not like _this,”_ he said, gesturing to all the partying happening around them. “You were gonna be up at the ass crack of dawn every day, taking tests, forking all of your money over to the man—”

“He had a full ride, you dumbass,” Daisuke whispered not-quietly again, punching Kou in the arm. 

“Whatever, you know what I mean!” Kou exclaimed, rubbing his arm. “Now you get to stay here, with us and all your friends, right next to the beach, doing _this,_ forever!” 

“Yeah, doing _this_ forever…” Souji said, looking around at all the wild nonsense going on around them. “Way better than Berkeley.” 

Souji stood and gathered up his jacket decidedly. He wasn’t exactly mad at his friends, but he had been contemplating bowing out of this party since the moment he arrived and this seemed like as good a time as any. 

Kou looked like he was about to argue, but Daisuke elbowed him and then whispered to Souji, “Hey, Rise Kujikawa, incoming.” 

Souji tried not to roll his eyes—they had all known each other since elementary school, so there was no need to say her full name, and definitely no need to warn of her approach, as if Souji needed to mentally prepare himself for some kind of once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. 

Rise was beautiful, popular, smart, talented, rich… not to mention _very_ available (she wouldn’t let him forget it), and _very_ into him (had been for years)—all things that should have had him chomping at the bit to be with her, like seemingly every other guy in school was. Unfortunately, he had just never been interested. He didn’t know if he believed in ‘having a type,’ but if he did have a type, Rise just wasn’t it. 

Still, he let her flirt with him and played along as best as he could without leading her on _too_ much, because he didn’t have the heart to directly shoot her down. 

As she walked straight toward Souji (completely ignoring Kou’s and Daisuke’s presence), Souji noted that like usual when she was buzzed, a deep blush covered her cheeks and the bridge of her nose, and the way she walked was bouncier, making her auburn pigtails swing even more wildly than normal. 

_“Sooooujiiii,”_ she crooned. “You’re in trouble!” 

Very used to this routine, he asked patiently, “What’d I do this time?”

“You didn’t get me a drink!” she chided with a giggle.

Souji replied flatly, “I did not know you were thirsty.”

“Well, now you _do!”_ Rise exclaimed, playfully shoving Souji’s shoulder harder than she probably meant to. 

Souji grimaced and then his closed eyes, trying his damnedest to not let his pain or annoyance come to the surface. 

“Oh, I’m sorry!” Rise exclaimed, seeming genuinely concerned until she tentatively reached out and pulled the sleeve of his t-shirt up, revealing a long, prominent scar. 

Souji fought the urge to slap her hand away. 

“That’s the bad one, huh?” Rise asked, the flirty tone returning to her voice as she let his sleeve fall back down. “Well, now that you’re not swimming anymore, maybe you’ll have some extra time for me!”

_“I_ have some extra time for you,” Kou suddenly offered. “I’m also not swimming.” 

“You were never swimming, idiot!” Daisuke hissed, smacking Kou in the side. 

Kou retaliated immediately, and the two of them got into a mini smack-fight while Rise continued trying to flirt with Souji.

Luckily, one of the girls from Rise’s posse yelled to her from near the main bonfire, looking like she might keel over at any second. 

_“Rise!_ Get the hell over here, bitch!” 

Rise rolled her eyes and yelled over her shoulder, “Shut up, Ai! I’ll be right there, geez!” 

“I see you’re still two peas in a pod,” Souji said, pretty sure this sort of thing was exactly what inspired that whole ‘with friends like these, who needs enemies’ saying.

“You know it!” Rise said with a wink, flipping the charm back on like a switch. “Some people say we have a love-hate relationship, but I don’t know… I think relationships are better with more of the love, don’t you think?” she asked, moving a little closer to Souji.

Souji took a step back. “Probably.” 

Rise pouted, but she quickly caught herself and smiled brightly again. “So, you’re coming to my graduation party, right?” 

“I think so.”

“Good,” she said with a smirk, turning to leave but making sure her hair flipped attractively in the process. “I’ll be waiting for you.” 

As soon as she was gone, Daisuke gave Souji a celebratory punch to the shoulder (the uninjured one), and even Kou (after he finished watching Rise sashay away) looked excited for Souji, because apparently the two of them hadn’t caught on to his disinterest in Rise either. 

Souji started to put his jacket on to clearly signal his intention to leave, to which Kou protested, “Dude, what are you doing? You’re seriously gonna leave us?” 

“Just dodging another bullet,” Souji said wryly, wanting to get out of there before another girl flirted with him or his friends got _completely_ plastered and tried to convince him to do something he’d regret. 

Looking sad, Daisuke said gently, “It’s our graduation night, man. This only happens once. Stay a little longer?” 

“Sorry…” Souji said, determined to not let the peer pressure get to him this time, even if it was from a well-meaning friend. “I’m just not feeling it tonight. But hey, if Kou’s right, we’ve got forever, so don’t worry about it.” 

Daisuke frowned and looked away, while Kou said, “Souji, man, you know I didn’t mean anything by that, right?” 

“I know,” Souji said with a nod. “You guys have fun, okay? Look out for each other. I’ll probably see you at Rise’s party,” he said, still noncommittal but wanting to give his friends some kind of hope. 

Still looking sad, Daisuke said, “All right, man.” 

As Souji retreated, Kou called after him, “Well, don’t expect me to be responsible for this idiot!” 

_“You’re_ the idiot!” Daisuke yelled back. “And like hell I’ll be responsible for _your_ dumb ass either!”

Souji could hear them getting into another mini smack-fight, and in his relief at getting away, he was able to smile just a little at the familiar antics of his two friends. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I had to put you in this role, Rise, but you fit it better than anyone else, lol. According to the P4 art book, Rise was originally supposed to be a bully, so putting her in the 'popular bully girl who wants the guy' role isn't too much of a stretch. XD This scene in the movie between Charlie (Souji) and Zoe (Rise) is actually pretty cringe because her flirting is just ~ugh~ and obviously unwanted. I kept some of that dialogue as is just because it's bad, and I want you to dislike it too. LOL


	7. I'll Just Keep Swimming

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No cats were harmed in the making of this chapter.

Souji walked slowly down the middle of the train tracks, hands in his pockets and gaze on his feet as he pretended each horizontal piece of wood was a rung on a ladder. A ladder to where, he didn’t know, but from where he stood, it didn’t seem like anywhere promising. 

He wasn’t sure why he had wandered here of all places, but he didn’t want to go home yet. His family would have questions if he showed up home super early (his parents had attended Yasogami too and regarded the annual beach bash as a rite of passage, almost as important as the graduation ceremony itself), plus the path home was bound to be littered with more classmates who would try and turn him around, which was the last thing he wanted. 

Walking on the train tracks _would_ be dangerous, if he wasn't familiar with the train schedule—it hadn’t changed since he was a kid. The train was stopped at the station now and wouldn’t be moving again for a little while longer, so he was safe for the time being.

As Souji got closer, he could hear music, and he briefly wondered when the old train station had upgraded to playing music at the platform. That thought, however, was quickly overshadowed as his mind incessantly circled back to thoughts of his future and what awaited him there, if anything. 

Halting in the middle of the tracks and gritting his teeth, Souji asked out loud, “What am I supposed to do now?” 

> _“—just keep swimming.”_

Souji’s heart stopped for a moment before frantically pounding to catch up on the beats it had missed. He was finally close enough to the platform to hear the lyrics of the song that was being played, and near enough to the front of the train that he had to walk sideways off the tracks to peer around it. 

There on the platform was a boy he didn’t recognize, strumming an acoustic guitar and singing as passionately as if he was playing for a packed house of fans. 

> _“I’m a fish out of my school  
> _ _The waves tossed me from the water  
> _ _But if I stay here on the ground  
> _ _Things are only getting hotter”_

For some reason, Souji’s thoughts about his future faded away, and his feet started moving faster in the direction of the singing stranger. 

He really wasn’t sure why a song would be from the point of view of a fish, but he certainly was intrigued enough by that voice to go find out. 

> _“I’ll just keep swimming  
> _ _Across the oceans I will roam  
> _ _I’ll just keep singing  
> _ _Until I know which way is home_
> 
> _I’ll keep sliding on sandbars  
> _ _And riding the currents  
> _ _I’ll keep circling the shipwrecks  
> _ _And wading for my purpose”_

As he got closer, he saw that the boy was definitely around his age, which made it even stranger that Souji had never seen him. He was a sight though, smiling through the clever little lyrics (Souji saw him occasionally glance at a notebook sitting beside him on the crate—had he written the song himself?), looking almost unnaturally happy in a way Souji wasn’t even sure he was capable of feeling. 

Still, it drew him in, until he was standing a few feet away from the boy. 

> _“When I’m lost without a clue of what to do  
> _ _I’ll just keep swim—”_

As soon as the boy noticed Souji watching him, he abruptly stopped performing, hands frozen over his guitar strings and mouth gaping too wide to sing anymore.

“I didn’t mean to interrupt,” Souji offered softly, wondering if the intensity of his stare had been too much. 

The boy’s whole expression dissolved into fear, and then he suddenly shot up off the crate, turning away toward his guitar case and knocking it over in the process, sending change flying all over the platform. 

“Crap! Crap, crap, crap…” 

Not able to place the violent reaction but wanting to calm the boy down, Souji jogged over and squatted to help pick up the change, surprised when he found a pack of peanut M&Ms. 

“I’m sorry,” Souji said, placing the M&Ms in the case and frowning as the boy frantically threw his guitar in on top of them. “You don’t have to go because of me.” 

_“Whaaat?”_ the boy laughed nervously, slamming the case shut before Souji could even pick up his change and put it back in. “Because of you? Psh, I’m not leaving because of you! I don’t even know you! I just remembered, I have to go!” 

Souji noted that the boy’s hands had a slight shake to them as he tried to close the latches on the case, so Souji helped by closing the latches he hadn’t gotten to yet. The boy seemed to appreciate it, if only for the fact that it would help him get away from Souji faster. 

“Wait,” Souji said as they both stood up, seeing that he might have to be more direct if he wanted to stop the boy from leaving before Souji even got his name. “You _just_ remembered you have to go? In the middle of a song?”

“Um, it… wasn’t the middle of the song? Yeah, it was the end! I was done,” he replied quickly, holding his guitar case in front of him with both arms like it was a shield and not able to maintain eye contact with Souji for more than a second. 

“The song ends on _‘I’ll keep swim?’_ ” Souji asked, eying the boy suspiciously, making him squirm in response.

“Uhhh, yeah! Yes, it does. I’m not a very good lyricist, huh? Shoot, I’ll have to work on that, thanks for the feedback! Time to go home, bye!” 

“Wait, you live here in town? You didn’t go to Yasogami…”

“Nope! Mom homeschooled me, and even though I graduated today and am technically an adult now, she’s a huge worrier, so she’s literally probably about to send a search party for me—” 

The boy started to turn away but then almost dropped his case, and Souji’s hands reflexively shot out to catch it before it hit the platform. 

His left hand accidentally landed on top of the boy’s right hand (it was warm, probably from all the strumming), clasping it instead of the case, and both of them froze at the accidental contact, staring into each other’s eyes. 

_“Shit,”_ the boy whispered. “Your eyes are even prettier up close.” 

“Up close?” Souji asked, an amused smile creeping up on his face. “As opposed to…?” 

“As opposed to, uh, several seconds ago, when you were slightly farther away? Sorry, didn’t mean to sound like a creep, haha! Just a passing observation!” the boy asserted with a bright red face that didn’t help his case any. “Wow, I _really_ need to go _right now.”_

Not about to lose his chance, Souji tightened his grip and asked point-blank, “Why are you in such a rush?” 

“I… I told you, my mom is worried, and…” the boy jerked away from Souji and regained his hold on his case before blurting out, “My cat!” 

Souji wanted, of course, to inquire as to what he meant by that, but he was also very distracted with wondering if the boy had also felt… _something_ when their hands were touching.

“My cat died!” 

Souji’s heart broke instantly, and even the boy, in all his reluctance, seemed concerned at his sudden onset of sadness. 

“That’s awful. I’m so sorry,” Souji said gently. “I’ve never had my own cat, but there are a lot of strays I look after around town, and… I know what it’s like…” 

“Whoa, hey, it’s okay, man,” the boy said almost guiltily. “Um, it’s the circle of life, y’know? It moves us all! Don’t worry about it, okay?”

“Hold on…” Souji said, removing himself from his feelings for a second to use his brain. “You suddenly remembered you had to go home in the middle of a song—”

“—at the _end_ of a song…” 

“—because your cat died? If it’s already dead, what’s the hurry?” 

“I…” the boy hesitated, gaze darting around frantically, “…have to plan the funeral!”

“But if planning your cat’s funeral is so urgent, why were you out here playing guitar in the first place?” 

“I’m _coping,_ okay?!” the boy cried. “But now I’m finished coping! I’m all coped out! Time to plan the funeral!” 

“But…” 

“P-please stop asking me questions. My _dead_ cat who _died_ and is _super dead_ needs me right now,” the boy insisted, turning and running away. 

Not having any more time to contemplate how little all of that made sense, Souji called after him in a last-ditch attempt, “Wait! Hold on! Please?”

The boy looked over his shoulder almost apologetically but kept running, yelling back, “Sorry! Have a beautiful life! Bye!” 

As he disappeared around the corner of the station, Souji couldn’t help but think that his life would be more beautiful if that boy would just stay in it. 

It was an alarming thought to have about a guy he had just met, especially since up until now, he had never had a thought remotely resembling it. It shouldn’t have felt like he was missing out on something incomparably special and insanely important, even more so than his lost scholarship to his dream school. It shouldn’t have, but it did, which led to an intense feeling of disappointment falling on his shoulders like an anvil. 

He turned to look at all the loose change still on the ground when something else caught his eye. On the ground next to the crate was a notebook, the one the boy had been looking in while he was performing. He must have knocked it over in his rush.

The invisible weight fell from Souji’s shoulders as he quickly went to pick the notebook up, opening the front cover and looking for contact information so he could return it. 

There was nothing though, only pages and pages of song lyrics, notes, and doodles, none of which pointed Souji to the boy’s identity or location. 

He flipped to the last page that had been written on, and it was the lyrics for “I’ll Just Keep Swimming” written in big, barely legible script that somehow matched the boy’s energy. There were also doodles in the margins of cute, big-eyed fish, and a bunch of turtles of all sizes swimming together. 

Souji knew then that he _had_ to find this boy again, if only to satiate his curiosity about what could have possibly inspired a song from the point of view of a fish. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the movie has a few original songs that Katie performs, and I didn’t want to just copy the lyrics into this story, so I wrote my own songs. I tried to retain some of the basic premise/mood of the original songs while still changing them up to fit my characterization of Yosuke. I only wrote half of a song for this chapter since only about half of a song shows up in the movie (though there’s a full song on the soundtrack). But anyways, I hope y’all enjoyed Yosuke’s lil’ fish song. XD 
> 
> Souji: I just wanna social link with the cute boi. :C  
> Yosuke: _YEETS SELF TF OUTTA THERE_


	8. Dr. Sharma

Mrs. Hanamura averted her gaze and fiddled with the hem of her dress as Dr. Sharma jotted down her latest response to what felt like an endless series of questions about Yosuke’s health. She wasn’t used to his attention being solely on her, and those dark brown eyes of his would bore a hole right through her soul if she let them. She knew that a lecture was coming soon; she just didn’t know when. 

Usually they would have their consultations in an interior room of the hospital, but since Yosuke wasn’t present today, Dr. Sharma had brought her to his personal office. It was comfortable and spacious and had a lovely view, with sunlight streaming in through a wall of floor-to-ceiling windows. It certainly was nice enough to warrant Mrs. Hanamura staring all around the room—anywhere but at the doctor. 

Since Yosuke’s condition had been stable for quite some time now, they didn’t have to run as many tests as they had when he was younger, and sometimes they didn’t need to take any blood or hook him up to any machines at all. Those were the good appointments—the ones where they could just report that there were no major changes, and Dr. Sharma just had to take notes and do a brief visual inspection so that Yosuke’s prescriptions could be refilled. 

Dr. Sharma was extremely kind and patient, and although he could be reserved at times, his underlying warmth was unmistakable. He had been treating Yosuke since he was a child, and Yosuke had latched onto him very quickly. Luckily Dr. Sharma was just as fond of Yosuke, though Mrs. Hanamura could never be surprised by anyone taking to her lovely Sweet Potato. 

In a way, Dr. Sharma felt like a part of the family, since Yosuke had such a small circle of support, all of whom cared about him like one of their own. (Chie was like a sister to Yosuke, Daidara was like an uncle, the delivery girl from Aiya’s was like a cousin… though she might as well have been another daughter to Mrs. Hanamura with the amount of tip money she had given her over the years, a good chunk of which went to Aika’s college fund…) 

And while Mrs. Hanamura felt eternally indebted to Dr. Sharma for taking such good care of her baby, she also felt like it was good for him to have the two of them in his life. He had no family of his own—he had always been too busy with his career for that—aside from his parents in India who he sadly hadn’t been able to visit since even before he’d started treating Yosuke. 

Mrs. Hanamura always worried about him overworking himself, but she also respected his dedication. And even though she would never trade her Yosuke for anything in the world, a small part of her envied Dr. Sharma’s freedom to pursue his dream—leaving his home country to go to medical school and then becoming a very sought-after doctor (with a beautiful,  _ huge _ office). He was around her age, but she could only imagine how small and unimpressive her resume would look next to his. 

“Earth to Hanamura,” Dr. Sharma said, as if he had been trying to get her attention for a while. “I asked if Yosuke has been having any trouble swallowing or talking.” 

She shook her head, putting on a strained smile. “No, besides his chronic issue of never finishing his lo mein, he puts his food down just as vigorously as ever! And talking, sheesh, he has no problem with that, sometimes it’s hard to get him to stop—” 

“Like mother, like son,” Dr. Sharma said, setting his clipboard down with a wry smile and eying her. 

Mrs. Hanamura fidgeted under his stare, looking back out the windows. “Psh, you love us.” 

“That I do,” Dr. Sharma agreed. “Now tell me why Yosuke isn’t here today,” he said flatly, not wanting to beat around the bush anymore. 

“He’s a teenager,” she replied, crossing her arms and shrugging, as if that would ward off the incoming lecture. “You know how they can be. Rebellious and whatnot…”

“Yosuke is the least rebellious teenager I’ve ever witnessed.  _ You _ are more rebellious than him, and you’re not a teenager,” Dr. Sharma said, not about to settle for anything less than the whole truth. “Yosuke adores you and will do anything you ask, and we both know it. So why don’t you tell me the real reason he’s not here today?” 

“He was  _ happy, _ okay?!” Mrs. Hanamura blurted out, throwing her hands in the air. “He graduated yesterday, and I gave him his father’s guitar, and he got to play his songs at the train station, and he was just so  _ happy.  _ And I didn’t wanna ruin that by dragging him here in the middle of the day, because even with as little as he complains, I know he hates being covered in that ugly anti-sun monk outfit and riding in our ugly anti-sun minivan, which he affectionately refers to as  _ The Hearse, _ and aside from getting to see you, he hates being in this hospital and being tested and being  _ reminded _ of…” she trailed off, covering her mouth with her hand as she started to get choked up. 

“I understand. You  _ know _ I understand,” Dr. Sharma said softly, leaning forward to look up at her face. “But the risk only increases as he gets older, and as good of a parent as you are—and you’re an amazing one—and as much as you’ve educated yourself about his condition—which I can only  _ wish _ all of my parents would do—you’re not a doctor, and I need to see my patient with my own eyes. I’ll refill his prescription this time, but I’m afraid I can’t, in good conscience, do it a second time. Okay?” 

Mrs. Hanamura sniffled and then nodded stiffly, feeling the beginnings of what would surely be a killer migraine. “Thank you. I know he should be here. I just… want him to be happy.”

“Well, we need him to be healthy  _ and _ happy. You have to keep remembering the long-term; while he might not enjoy his appointments, they’re necessary for his long-term happiness. No one is going to be happy if we let our guard down and something happens. If he is exposed to even the slightest amount of sunlight—”

“He  _ won’t  _ be,” Mrs. Hanamura interrupted harshly. 

Not backing down, Dr. Sharma continued, “We’ve talked about him getting to this age; now that’s he’s graduated high school, he’s going to want to get out and experience certain things, and while that’s perfectly normal, there are still precautions that need to be taken—”

“I know. I get it,” Mrs. Hanamura said more gently, regretting having gone on the defensive. “I’ll protect him, just like I always have. I promise.” 

Dr. Sharma’s expression seemed to soften at her change of tone. “And you promise you’ll bring him to his next appointment?” 

“Promise,” she sighed, knowing at the end of the day that Dr. Sharma was only being stern with her because he cared. 

“I’m adding it to your calendar right now,” he warned, pulling out his phone. After years of the occasional forgotten appointment (though he never once charged her the missed appointment fee), he had made a calendar specially for her that synced up to her phone and even sent notifications beforehand so she wouldn’t forget. 

Wanting to lighten the mood while he tapped away on his phone, Mrs. Hanamura looked to an orange vase of flowers sitting on the end table next to Dr. Sharma. “I didn’t know you liked sunflowers. Trying to brighten up the place?” 

“Trying to brighten up  _ your _ place,” Dr. Sharma said, setting down his phone for a moment. He picked up the small vase and held it out to her.

“You got these for me?” she asked, looking surprised. 

Dr. Sharma gave a tiny smirk. “I got them for  _ Yosuke. _ He likes sunflowers, right?”

“Yes, we both do.” 

“I got these as a graduation present. Another reason you should have brought him in today.” 

Mrs. Hanamura gingerly took the vase in her hands, trying not to get emotional over the thoughtful gesture.

“Yosuke will love these,” she said, closing her eyes for a second to smell the flowers. “Thank you so much.” 

“There’s also a card in there for him,” Dr. Sharma said, pointing to a brown envelope nestled among the flowers. “Make sure he gets that too.” 

“Yessir,” Mrs. Hanamura said with a newly re-energized smile. “But geez, how am I supposed to get these home without spilling the water?” 

Dr. Sharma shrugged. “See if it fits in your cup holder? Though if you had brought  _ Yosuke, _ he would have been able to hold them while you were driving—”

“Okay, now you’re just rubbing it in.” 

“Guilty as charged,” Dr. Sharma smiled, standing up to escort her out. 

As they walked to the door, Mrs. Hanamura asked, “Hey, have you heard anything new about that University of Washington study?”

“Honestly, I wouldn’t get your hopes up. I submitted Yosuke’s name for their phase two trials, but there’s no guarantee they’ll even make it to phase two, research funding being what it is. As you know, XP is extremely rare; it only affects one in a million people.”

“Well, luckily for us, Yosuke  _ is _ one in a million,” Mrs. Hanamura said confidently, smelling the sunflowers again. “My hopes are very much intact.” 

Dr. Sharma laughed as he opened the door for her. “Of course. I would expect nothing less from a Hanamura.” 

As she walked to the reception desk to get her paperwork, Mrs. Hanamura practically buried her face in the flowers, smiling brightly to herself. Her phone pinged, and she immediately paused to pull it out of her purse in case it was Yosuke. However, it was a notification from none other than Dr. Sharma himself, as he had just updated her special calendar. She opened her calendar app, and he had highlighted the date of their next appointment in bright yellow and labeled it as “APPOINTMENT TODAY. BRING YOSUKE!!!” followed by a string of emojis. She shook her head and laughed, almost wishing Yosuke had never taught him what an emoji was. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> APPOINTMENT TODAY. BRING YOSUKE!!! ❗🧔🩺🏥🍠🌻🙏😬👌😉


	9. Sir Kitty Cat

“A cat funeral?!” Chie shrieked with laughter, spinning around in Yosuke’s desk chair. 

“Ugh,  _ please _ stop repeating that,” Yosuke groaned, falling face-first into his mattress. 

“Sorry, Hana-chan, I would if I could, but this is just way too rich.  _ Cat funeral!” _

“Quit it!” he yelled into his blanket before turning to her with the most pathetic look on his face. “Why did I say that?! I don’t have a cat! I love cats, and yet I _ murdered _ my fake cat!” 

Chie clasped her hands as if she was praying and looked to the ceiling. “Rest in peace, Sir Kitty Cat.” 

“Ugh, and _ he _ loves cats! I  _ knew _ that!” Yosuke cried, rolling onto his back and covering his face with both hands. “How many times have I seen him stop to pet a stray cat? A million!”

Planting her feet on the carpet so she would stop spinning, Chie said, “Maybe not a  _ whole _ million…” 

“And yet my stupid brain still thought it was a good idea to commit fictional feline  _ murder _ in front of him!” 

“That’s a _ little  _ dramatic…” 

_“Chie._ You should have seen his face. He looked so sad for the late Sir Kitty Cat. He was _devastated,_ bless his poor, naïve, beautiful soul.” 

Smirking, Chie said, “Well, obviously this whole incident didn’t make you any _ less _ in love with him.”

“What should I have said?!” Yosuke whined, sitting up and hugging a pillow to his chest.

“Anything else! Literally, anything besides what you said. Maybe even, I don't know, the truth?” 

Yosuke let his chin fall on top of the pillow, pouting. “Like what? ‘Hey, handsome, I’m Yosuke Hanamura, and wouldn’t you know, this is not the first time I’ve seen that pretty face of yours! Actually, I’ve seen it countless times for literal _years_ when I was watching you from my window, _stalking_ you, falling in love with you without your permission!’”

“Maybe don’t  _ start  _ with that…" Chie said, drawing her knee up to her chest. "And no one falls in love _ with _ permission.”

“All right, how about, ‘You might remember me as the kid who suddenly disappeared from Yasogami Elementary and then was labeled as the town vampire!’”

“Dude, you really need to let that go. No one even remembers that!”

_ “I _ remember it. It was one of the only times in my entire life that I interacted with kids my own age, and I got bullied for it. All the movies are right about bullies,” Yosuke grumbled, burrowing farther into his pillow.

“Well usually in the movies, the protagonist wins out over the bullies in the end. You’ve still got time!” 

“How can I win out in the end when I’m such a _ loser?”  _ Yosuke mourned, tossing his pillow aside and getting up out of bed. 

“Hey, don’t be so hard on yourself!” Chie said, grabbing his hand with both of hers and following him to the loveseat by the window. “You’re not a loser, your brain isn’t stupid, and you aren’t a cat murderer, okay? Everything’s gonna be fine! We can fix this!” 

Yosuke fell defeatedly into the loveseat and slumped over. “This is just like what happens with cats when you don’t socialize them at a young age. They think they know how life works, until one day you put ‘em around another cat, and then they just freak out and ruin everything!” 

“For someone who’s never had a cat, you know way too much about cats,” Chie said, folding her legs under her on the seat. 

“I have the internet,” Yosuke replied grumpily. “I’ve seen the videos.”

Yosuke had poured the peanut M&Ms into a bowl and placed it on the windowsill beside his vase of sunflowers, so Chie grabbed the bowl and started helping herself.

“At least you got M&Ms, so the night wasn’t a total loss,” she said, popping several more candies into her mouth and then offering the bowl to Yosuke. 

“Is that supposed to be encouraging?” Yosuke asked dryly, but then he took a couple of M&Ms anyways. 

“Hey,” Chie said, still chewing, “You just need to learn from your mistakes. We’ll practice a little, get you all nice and socialized, and next time you won’t completely freak out!” 

Also still chewing, Yosuke said, “There’s not gonna be a next time.” 

“How do you know?”

“Because there  _ can’t _ be a next time!” Yosuke said, picking up his guitar and setting it in his lap. “You know that. The first time shouldn’t have happened. It was a fluke, and it’s not gonna happen again.” 

“Hey, even if there isn’t a next time—which there will be, by the way, because I seem to recall a certain someone being a big part of your life dreams that are definitely all going to happen—this isn’t all bad. This is what Taylor Swift does. She has awkward interactions with boys, and then she uses them to write killer songs that outshadow any of her failures to properly interact with other human beings.” 

Yosuke’s face completely fell, and then he started looking around frantically. 

Chie frowned at his sudden change in demeanor. “Whoa, hey, calm down, I wasn’t trying to insult your precious T. Swift, I know how much you love her…”

“No, no, no,” Yosuke said, putting his guitar down and getting up to search his room. “Oh no…”

“Yosuke? What’s happening?”

Yosuke rifled through various piles of books and DVDs and papers, getting more and more frantic when he didn’t find what he was looking for. 

“My notebook, Chie! Have you seen it?” 

“Your notebook?  _ The _ notebook?” 

“Yes,  _ the _ notebook! With all my songs! Crap, I think I accidentally left it at the train station,” Yosuke said, going back in his mind to the incident with Souji and not remembering having picked his notebook up when he was trying to run away. “Chie, could you please go get it for me? Pretty please with teriyaki sauce on top?” 

“Gosh, Yosuke, I would, but there was this other cat funeral that I really wanted to hit up today…” 

Yosuke’s frown slowly turned into a rueful smile as he realized Chie was giving him shit. 

“You’re the worst!” he laughed, picking up a throw pillow to whack Chie repeatedly with. 

“No! Hey!” Chie laughed, picking up another pillow so she could retaliate. “Don’t start what you can’t finish, Hanamura!” she cried, launching a full pillow attack on him. 

A few minutes later, they were both lying on the floor, panting from their epic battle. 

Yosuke asked breathlessly, “You  _ are _ gonna go get my notebook though, right?” 

“Yeah, yeah, I’m going,” Chie said, standing up and straightening her clothes out. 

As soon as Yosuke sat up, she reached down to ruffle his already messy hair. 

“You’re the best!” he said, beaming up at her. 

“I know, I know,” Chie said, taking a handful of M&Ms for the road. “You’re so lucky to have me. You should thank the heavens, really—the heavens where poor Sir Kitty Cat lives now.” 

Looking up toward the heavens, Yosuke said, “Rest in peace, Sir Kitty Cat. Please forgive me.”

Chie chuckled as she gathered her things and got ready to go. 

“Thank you so much, Chie,” Yosuke said genuinely, and Chie looked back at him, still sitting on the ground, having pulled his guitar into his lap. 

Wanting to pick on him some more but also knowing how much his notebook and his music meant to him, she decided to give it a rest. 

“You’re welcome. I’ll see you later, okay?” 

“Okay,” he said with a serene, trusting smile. 

As she left his bedroom and heard him start playing one of his songs by memory, she said under her breath, “Psh, as if I  _ wouldn’t _ do anything for you.” 


	10. Unforgettable

Chie looked around the platform, not seeing Yosuke’s notebook anywhere. It was late afternoon, so it was too early for Daidara to be on shift. Chie supposed she could ask the woman in the ticket booth if the notebook had been turned in… 

That thought swiftly vanished when Chie spotted none other than Souji Seta standing a ways down the platform, rocking back and forth on his heels and looking around expectantly. Clutched in his hands was Yosuke’s notebook, and before Chie had time to think, she was stomping toward him in true Satonaka fashion. 

“Hey!” she called out, and he actually flinched a little. “That’s my friend’s notebook you’ve got there, mister!” 

“You know him?” Souji blurted out, looking surprised and hopeful. “Wait… Chie Satonaka?” he asked as recognition washed over his face. 

“Wow, I’m surprised you know my name, Mr. Popular,” she replied, noting how his grip on the notebook got tighter.

Souji cocked his head. “Of course I do. Is that… really how people see me?” he asked with a frown.

Chie didn’t know why she suddenly felt the need to cut Souji down to size, perhaps as some way of defending Yosuke from someone who could potentially break his heart. While they hadn’t ever really had any meaningful interactions, Chie had no reason to dislike Souji aside from his popularity. Compared to the other ‘popular’ people, like that rotten Rise Kujikawa, Souji actually seemed pretty nice—super quiet, and hard to read, but pleasant overall, as far as she could tell. Though perhaps the fact that he even tolerated being in the presence of people like Rise was what soured her opinion of him. 

“Sorry,” Chie backtracked. “I guess I’m just used to being forgettable.” 

Souji felt like he needed to set things right with Chie asap. He did want to make sure Chie would point him toward the mysterious boy who was apparently her friend, but he also just didn’t want her to have the impression that he was some kind of jerk who hadn’t had the decency to notice her for years. 

He shook his head and smiled a little. “Chie Satonaka, forgettable? We’ve gone to the same school since kindergarten. We just had an English class together this past semester. We sat next to each other at graduation.”

“Okay, so maybe I’m not _completely_ invisible…” 

Souji continued, “For four years, you were the only girl in Yasogami’s martial arts club, and you kicked everyone’s asses, even if they were twice your size. That kind of thing is hard to forget.”

Chie blushed, not used to getting such genuine compliments about her ass-kicking abilities, which she happened to be very proud of. 

“Fine, you know who I am, I get it,” she said, trying not to sound too flustered.

“And in fourth grade, when my friends Kou and Daisuke were getting picked on by Rise…” Souji said, lowering his voice to a conspiratorial whisper, “…you punched her right in the face.”

“Heh, you remember that?” Chie laughed nervously. “I’m lucky I wasn’t expelled…” 

“See? You, Chie Satonaka, are pretty unforgettable.” 

“Okay, you win!” Chie exclaimed, not willing to let this kid fluster her any more. “Now just give me my friend’s notebook back!” 

She reached out for the notebook, but he took a big step backwards, out of her reach. Chie glared at the inherent challenge in the action, and then she lunged toward him to swipe the notebook, only to be thwarted as his arm shot up, holding the notebook high above her head. 

“Tall bastard,” she muttered under her breath, unable to reach that high even on her tiptoes. 

Souji said quickly, “I’m sorry, but how do you know him? Why have I never seen him around? What’s his name?”

“You sure ask a lot of questions,” Chie grunted, still reaching for the notebook. “Not sure why you’re testing me when you know I can kick your ass!”

“I’m surprisingly good in a fight,” Souji asserted, though even he looked doubtful.

“Are you, now?” Chie asked, intrigued despite herself at the fact that he didn’t immediately play the I’d-never-hit-a-girl card. Souji was pretty muscular from being a swimmer and all, but she doubted that would help him best her in hand-to-hand combat. 

“Mhm,” Souji hummed, gulping. “I wrestle my uncle sometimes. He’s a cop.” 

“What are you gonna do, merman?” Chie asked, putting her hands on her hips. “Hit me with a butterfly stroke?” 

Souji asked hopefully, “Are you weak to butterfly strokes?” 

“Weak to…? No,” Chie replied, grimacing at the weird question. “I’m not weak to anything, except the occasional gas station burrito and my best friend, whose notebook I’m really gonna need you to give back, pronto!” 

Souji tentatively suggested, “Couldn’t you just tell me where he lives so I can return it myself?” 

“And why would I do that?” Chie asked, looking like she really might be about to square up and fight him.

Souji’s resolve was swiftly crumbling, but he couldn’t bear to lose his chance again. 

“I want to see him again.”

Chie persisted, “And why do you want that?” 

“I just… I just want…” Souji said pathetically before slowly lowering the notebook. He looked Chie in the eye and then decidedly placed the notebook—his sole ticket to seeing the boy again—firmly into Chie’s hands. “Look, I met him here last night when he was playing his guitar and singing, and his lyrics kinda, _spoke_ to me. Before he ran off, he looked so… _happy_ while he was playing. But then he just left so fast, I couldn’t even get his name…”

Chie clutched the notebook to her chest, her mind whirring with all this new information, not only from what Souji was saying, but _how_ he was saying it. He almost looked like her dog, Muku, when he wanted her food and he made the biggest, saddest eyes at her. Though, to Souji’s credit, his desperation seemed genuine, unlike Muku, who would snap back to his goofy, happy self right after he received whatever food he had known his doting Chie would share with him. 

Chie obviously wanted to protect Yosuke from any shallow nobody who might only be interested in him for his looks or his charm, both of which could be gleaned instantly in his presence, but then she also had to remember that this wasn’t just anybody—this was the guy Yosuke had been pining over for years. 

On the one hand, if fate had made their paths cross and now she had the chance to play a part in making Yosuke’s romantic dream come true, she felt like it was her duty to point Souji in the right direction. On the other hand, if Souji didn’t have the potential to fully return Yosuke’s feelings, there was no point in introducing Yosuke to a new world of hurt. 

“What do you think of him?” Chie asked, calming herself down and testing the waters. “Like, as a person?”

“I don’t really know what to think,” Souji replied honestly. “It’s hard to judge someone after only a few minutes.” 

“I guess that’s fair. But if you don’t know what you _think_ of him… how do you _feel_ about him?” Chie asked, always having valued gut feelings over thoughts anyways. 

“What I _feel_ is… hopeful,” Souji replied surprisingly quickly. “I just want the chance to get to know him, to find out what about him makes me feel like for the first time in a long time, my life could get better.”

Chie’s heart swelled at the sweet sincerity of his answer, but then just as quickly, her stomach dropped as she realized something. Despite her disdain for rumors and her tendency to keep to herself at school, she had heard about Souji’s accident, and how it lost him his swimming scholarship to Berkeley. He must have been going through a really hard time. That probably explained why he seemed so down at graduation—he had essentially lost his future, and everything he had worked so hard for throughout his time at Yasogami. 

Yosuke had expressed concern when he first saw Souji in an arm cast, but Chie had pretended she didn’t know anything about it, for his sake. After the cast came off, Chie had kind of forgotten about it, but now she felt terrible, having not even really tried to understand what Souji must have been going through. 

Still, with as innocent as Souji’s intentions seemed, something in Chie was hesitant to let Souji into Yosuke’s life. 

“My friend—my _best_ friend—he’s really special,” Chie said softly. “He’s the most special person I know. Do you think you deserve that?”

With a small, sad smile, Souji replied, “No.” 

“Good answer,” Chie said with a firm nod. “No one deserves him.”

“Still… even if I don’t deserve it, even if I know almost nothing about him… He made me _feel_ something, when I hadn’t felt anything in a long time. I can’t get that smile, or that voice, or that _joy_ out of my mind; I can’t forget him.”

“Yeah, he’s pretty unforgettable,” Chie said as something inside her clicked into place, making her feel like the boy in front of her could be trusted with her best friend's heart. “His name is Yosuke Hanamura.”

Snapping out of his disappointment when he realized he had been granted the mystery boy’s name, Souji repeated slowly, “Yosuke Hanamura.” 

A shy grin took over his face, and Chie couldn’t help but pity this poor, lost, (kind of adorable?) little puppy. 

“All right, I’ve got a plan, so all you have to do is not mess it up,” Chie said, shoving the notebook back into Souji’s hands. “And that thing is basically sacred, so I swear if you lose it, or do any harm to it, you _will_ incur the wrath of Chie.” 

Staring down at the notebook that had miraculously fallen back into his hands, Souji said, “I don’t want to incur the wrath of Chie.” 

“You sure don’t!” Chie replied with a Yosuke-esque wink. “Now let’s get down to business…” 


	11. Pretzels and Ice Cream

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’ve decided to move my weekly Tuesday update for this fic to the weekend. One of the reasons I wanted to write this AU is because I haven’t done a long, multi-chapter fic in a long time, and I figured something based on a movie would be easier because the basic outline is already there. So far it’s working out! Hopefully once I finish this I’ll trust myself to do other longer works again, because I have a lot of ideas lying in wait! (ง •̀_•́)ง

Yosuke sat on his bed playing his guitar, trying to not be anxious as he waited for news from Chie about his notebook. He was working out some chord progressions for his newest song, though he would have preferred to be writing out the lyrics first. 

“I guess I could write them on normal paper,” he suggested to himself, but it felt wrong as soon as he said it. “Never mind. All lyrics have to go in the notebook. That’s just how things work.”

Just then, his text tone went off, and he quickly picked up his phone and swiped the unlock screen to see what Chie had said. 

Yosuke read her text out loud: “Found your notebook but had to go to work early. Left it at the ticket booth. Daidara will have it when you get there.” 

Yosuke frowned at his phone before setting it back down on his bed. 

“Huh, she never goes to work early. Maybe someone called out? I wonder if it was that weird girl she hates. But why wouldn’t she just keep the notebook with her and give it to me later? I guess I did freak out a little earlier, so she probably just wanted to make sure I got it back as soon as possible. Way to look out, Chie! Yeah, I’ll go as soon as the sun sets, before I forget this awesome chord progression…” 

* * *

“Hey, Mom?” Yosuke called as he descended the stairs. 

Through a mouthful of food, she replied, “Yes, Sweet Potato?”

When he entered the living room, he saw she was sitting in her leather recliner with her laptop and munching on a comically large soft pretzel.

“I’ve gotta go to the train station real quick. I left my notebook there, and Daidara has it.” 

“Okay, tell him I said hi. Oh, and also, ask him how long until he’s done with… the _art_ piece I commissioned from him.” 

Yosuke rolled his eyes. “You’ve been buying weapons from Daidara for years, Mom. I don’t know why you try to hide it.” 

“Hide it? Hide what? Ahaha, I don’t know what you’re talking about, Cutie Patootie,” she said, stuffing more pretzel into her mouth.

“Is this one lethal?”

“Lethal? No, never! I don’t know what you’re talking about, Cutie Patootie.” 

“You already said that,” Yosuke muttered. “I just think a guy should know how many lethal weapons are in his own home…” 

As he went out the front door, his mom called after him, “Be careful! Text me when you get there!” 

“Will do, Mom,” Yosuke replied, double-checking his pocket for his phone. “Love you!” 

“Love you too!” 

Yosuke went out the door, but then a second later he popped his head back in.

“Hey, Mom?” 

“Yes?” 

“Do we have any more of those soft pretzels?”

“I’ll make you one when you get back. Hot cheese?” 

“Yes, please! You’re the best!” 

“I know,” she replied with a grin. 

* * *

Chie handed the ice cream cone off to the customer in front of her and eyed the line of customers forming behind him. 

She told her co-worker, “Hey, we need more of like, everything.” 

It was just the two of them working for the night, and Chie wasn’t a fan. The other girl had gone to Yasogami High, but she ran with her own little misfit crowd, so like Souji, Chie had never really interacted with her in school. She wasn’t a bad worker, per se, but she could be a real space case sometimes, which meant Chie was constantly having to bring her back down to earth. 

“Hm, it appears that we do,” her co-worker replied, astutely surveying the ice cream case as if she was investigating a crime scene. 

“Well don’t just stand there! Go get more!” Chie ordered. 

“I’m on it, Boss!” the girl giggled, scurrying towards the back. 

“I’m not your boss!” Chie yelled after her, not sure why the girl thought it was so hilarious to call her Boss; they were both at the same level, and the other girl had worked there longer than Chie.

Yasogami Creamery hadn’t been Chie’s first choice for a part-time job. She used to work at a restaurant that served real food, but she got fired for helping herself a little too much when it came to the meat. An ice cream shop was a much safer bet for her, though every time she had to put on her striped apron, bow tie, and dumb paper hat, she strongly questioned her life choices. 

The phone started ringing, and Chie groaned as she walked over to answer it. 

“Yasogami Creamery, how can I help you?” she answered dully. 

“You can _help_ me by explaining what the _heck_ is happening right now!” 

“Yosuke!” Chie brightened up instantly, smirking and twirling the phone cord around her finger. “I take it you’re at the train station?” 

“Yes, I’m at the train station, crouching and hiding on one side of Daidara’s booth—which is empty, by the way, and I _will_ get both of you back for doing this to me—because _Souji Seta_ is standing on the other side with _my_ notebook! Why is he here, Chie? Why does he have my notebook?!” 

“Calm down, Hana-chan,” Chie said, barely holding in a laugh. “I just thought, since fate brought you guys together last night, but then you ran away from fate like a coward, that I could help fate out a little bit!” 

“So you gave him my notebook and told him to just stand there looking all cute and lonely until I got here?!” 

“Aw, he looks cute and lonely? I didn’t tell him to look like that, but it’s a smart move on his part.” 

“Chie, be serious for _one_ second! What do you expect me to do, go over there and just _talk_ to him?” 

“Uh, yeah, that’s kinda the point. If you want him, go get him!” 

“Chie! I’m wearing _sweatpants,”_ Yosuke quietly shrieked. “My hair, I didn’t even comb it!” 

“Don’t worry, your cutie patootie looks great in sweatpants; just ask your mom.” 

“Gross,” Yosuke said, and Chie could _hear_ him wrinkling his nose at her. 

“Plus we both know that putting a comb through your hair doesn’t do anything for it.”

“I look _bad,_ Chie… Hey, do you think if I went home and changed, he would still be waiting here when I got back?” 

“Seriously, Yosuke? You’re a good-looking guy, okay? Just keep talking so he looks at that pretty-boy face of yours instead of your dumpy clothes.” 

“Hey!” 

“And honestly, yes, I think he would stand there all night if he had to because he seems to really like you—”

“Wait, he does?” 

“—but keeping him waiting any longer would be pretty rude, don’t you think? And it would be better to get your notebook back sooner than later, right?” 

“What’s he gonna do in the meantime, eat it?” 

“I mean, maybe. Some people like the taste of paper.” 

“Nooo, my notebook!” Yosuke cried. “I’ve gotta get it back…”

“There you go, buddy, gather up that resolve!”

The next customer in line interrupted, “Excuse me, I’d like a large—” 

Chie recognized the guy from school and didn’t like him (surprise, surprise), so she replied, “Excuse _me,_ but I’m on the phone. Yukiko! Come help this guy!”

“Coming, Boss!”

“Yosuke, I’ve gotta go. Please just go talk to him. Be yourself, except less weird maybe. He can learn to love your weirdness later, okay? And think before you talk, all right?” 

“Do you want me to be myself or not?!” 

“Oh, and remember to breathe, Hanamura! You can do it!”

“I’m gonna kill you, Chie.”

“You won’t. You love me. You told me so yourself.” 

“Loving someone and killing them are not mutually exclusive!” 

“I’ll keep that in mind next time I want to kill you. But for now, eyes on the prize! Your humble dreams are in your hands now, okay?”

“I will never forget this betrayal.” 

“Cool, call me afterwards?” 

“Who the heck else would I call…” he muttered with a disgruntled, growly noise. “Bye.” 

Chie smiled as she hung up the phone, but her smile faded instantly as she noticed Yukiko juggling four large buckets of ice cream, stacked on top of each other so she couldn’t see where she was going.

“What are you doing?!” Chie cried, running over to help her. “You’re gonna drop them!” 

“You said we needed everything, Boss!” 

“Excuse me, I’d like a large—” 

“Hold your freaking horses!” Chie yelled at the customer, briefly wondering if she’d be getting fired again soon and hoping that Yosuke’s current situation was going more smoothly than hers. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The movie: _A literal 6-second scene where Katie tells her dad she’s going to the train station_  
>  Me: Time to write an entire conversation about soft pretzels


	12. Change of Plans

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 12 on 12/12!   
> 1️⃣2️⃣❕🎉

Yosuke sat crouched on the ground, gripping his phone with both hands. His eyes were squeezed shut as he cursed Chie and Daidara to the high heavens (where Sir Kitty Cat lived) and simultaneously tried to throw together a plan of attack for getting his notebook back without making a complete fool of himself (again). 

“Um, hey.” 

Yosuke screamed and dropped his phone, looking up to see Souji Seta staring down at him curiously. 

Yosuke immediately went into panic mode, all plans of remaining calm and not saying anything he’d regret later flying out the window. “H-hey! Hey there. How are you?”

Souji smiled and bent down to pick up Yosuke’s phone. “I’m doing better now.”

“That’s good. That’s great!” Yosuke said with wide eyes, trying to not read into that answer. “L-lovely weather we’re having!” 

“Yeah, it’s a nice night out,” Souji said calmly. 

He really just looked happy to be there, barely reacting to Yosuke’s frantic energy. 

“Hahaha-how’d you know I was over here?” Yosuke asked, his voice unnaturally high-pitched. 

“I heard you yelling at your phone,” Souji said, holding the phone out to Yosuke. 

“Heh, I’ve never been good at being quiet,” Yosuke said, reaching out to take the phone but making sure not to touch Souji at all, since the last time they touched, the spark he felt inside him nearly jolted him into another dimension. 

“Well, I’ve never been good at not being quiet, so…” Souji trailed off, offering a hand to Yosuke to help him up. 

“No thanks!” Yosuke quickly replied, staring fearfully at Souji’s outstretched hand and realizing way too late how rude that probably seemed. “Uh, what I mean is, I can stand up on my own, haha. Been doing it since I was a toddler! Standin’ up and, y’know, toddlin’.” 

“Oh, okay,” Souji said, withdrawing his hand and taking a step back so Yosuke had room to get up. 

Yosuke stood up carefully, not wanting to fall over or something that would negate his claim of being a nearly-lifelong connoisseur of standing up. Souji was watching him with laser focus though, and Yosuke suddenly realized Souji’s eyes were naturally bound to trail downward as he stood up. 

Remembering Chie’s (bad) advice, Yosuke abruptly cried, “Just look at my face and not what I’m wearing!” 

Souji’s gaze snapped back up to meet Yosuke’s, which created an altogether different problem as Yosuke’s heart drummed against his insides at the eye contact. 

“I have a similar pair of sweatpants at home,” Souji said, intently studying Yosuke’s face. “They’re very comfortable.” 

Yosuke thought to himself, _ Is he trying to comfort me? So I don’t feel so bad about my dumpy clothes?! Shit, he’s so nice. And handsome. Damn it…  _

“Yeah, these are super comfy! My mom bought them for me! At the clothing store. I don’t know which one. I wasn’t there.”

Yosuke screamed at himself internally:  _ My mom bought them for me? At the clothing store?! Dude, how lame can you possibly get? _

“My mom bought mine too, also at an unknown clothing store while I was not present.”

_ Does no amount of weirdness faze this guy? Because if he’s into weird, then maybe we actually do have a chance…  _

“Notebook for your thoughts,” Souji said, holding the notebook out to Yosuke. “I, uh, don’t have a penny.” 

“Got any peanut M&Ms?”

“What?”

“Forget I asked that,” Yosuke said, thoughts swirling as he absently reached for his notebook. “Are you into weird stuff?” 

Souji’s eyebrows shot up. “I’m not sure I’m comfortable answering that.” 

“Ahhh, not like that!  _ Not _ like that, man, I  _ swear.  _ Just, never mind, please forget I asked that too.” 

“If you mean ‘weird’ as in ‘odd,’ I guess my taste has always been somewhat eccentric.” 

Subconsciously determined to make a complete and absolute fool of himself (again), Yosuke hugged his notebook and asked dazedly, “Are you perfect?” 

“Well, that’s one I can answer,” Souji said. “No, not at all.” 

Yosuke mumbled under his breath, _ “Beg to differ.”  _

“What was that?” 

“Nothing! Well, um, thanks for this! The, my, notebook, I mean. Thanks for finding it,” Yosuke said, feeling his flight reflex starting to kick in and looking around for the best escape route. 

“Thanks for dropping it,” Souji said, and Yosuke looked at him curiously, forgetting about his escape plans for a second. “Otherwise I might not have been able to find you again.” 

“And that… would have been a bad thing?” 

Souji chuckled. “I don’t know about you, but for me, yeah it would have been a bad thing. You disappeared so fast last night, I was starting to think I might have imagined you.” 

“Well, if I’m all your imagination could come up with, you have a really lame imagination.” 

Souji finally had the good sense to look bothered by something Yosuke had said, frowning and cocking his head.

“Not that I’m saying your imagination is lame!” Yosuke backtracked. “I mean, that’s exactly what it sounds like I’m saying, but I’m not! I’m sure your imagination is fantastic! Just like the rest of you! You know what  _ I’m _ imagining right now? Me saying less embarrassing things! So, I should, you know, I should go. It was nice to meet you. Again. Um…”

“Souji. My name is Souji Seta. We haven’t been formally introduced.” 

“Right. Formally, I’m Yosuke Hanamura. Informally, I'm also Yosuke Hanamura. My name doesn't change based on formalities, or based on anything, really! It's, uh, pretty much always the same.”

“Hi, Yosuke Hanamura. It was very nice to meet you again as well.” 

Yosuke started to turn away, but then he looked down at his notebook and spun back around. 

“You didn’t read through this, did you?” 

Souji’s expression immediately became guilty. “I may have skimmed it…”

“Wait, seriously? You read through my notebook? This could have been like a private journal or something! I mean, it’s super personal, so it kind of is!”

“I didn’t mean to intrude or anything. I was just looking for a name or an address so I could get it back to you.”

“I guess that makes sense…”

“But then I couldn’t find anything, so I waited here until your friend Chie showed up. I’m really sorry. But I liked your doodles… and stuff…”

“Thanks,” Yosuke said, calming down. “This notebook means a lot to me, so thanks, again. You’re a nice guy, Souji.” 

Yosuke supposed if anyone had to bear witness to such a deep part of his soul, it might as well have been the person he had felt so deeply attached to for years. Perhaps this is what Yosuke needed for closure, to give a small part of himself to the boy who had given him so much. 

With his notebook back in his possession and his proper thanks given to Souji, Yosuke felt like he could move on, so he turned and started his solitary walk home, for good this time. 

“What, do you have to go finish planning that cat funeral or something?”

Yosuke nearly tripped over himself at Souji’s question; Souji must not have gotten the memo about the poetic parting they were currently supposed to be having. 

“Um, no,” Yosuke laughed, “I got all the planning done. Catering, flowers, playlist, all planned out.” 

“So you’re going…?”

“Home. I’m just… walking home.” 

“Can I walk with you?”

This was  _ not  _ what Yosuke had been planning on. 

But as he looked at Souji, whose eyes were so uncertain and hopeful and  _ beautiful, _ Yosuke found himself biting his lip and saying, “Um, yeah.”


	13. Walk With Me

Once Yosuke finally calmed down, he discovered that Souji was surprisingly easy to talk to. It probably helped that Souji was walking beside him instead of standing in front of him, which made it much easier to avoid that soul-piercing eye contact that so easily sent Yosuke into a tailspin. 

Yosuke’s brain was still working hard though, doing double-duty as he made small-talk with Souji and simultaneously marveled over how surreal this situation was. 

They’d walked and talked all the way from the train station, and now they were walking down the middle of Yosuke’s quiet street, which was completely void of cars or any other people; it really was just the two of them. 

Yosuke had watched Souji walk down this street so many times, hands jammed in his pockets like they were now, but now, miraculously, they were walking _together._

 _Souji Seta_ was walking with _Yosuke,_ right beside him, on purpose, of his own volition, sometimes accidentally brushing Yosuke’s arm, continuously asking Yosuke personal questions like he wanted to get to know him or something, smiling and laughing at Yosuke’s answers like he was… charmed? 

Yosuke had daydreamed about a moment like this hundreds of times, so now that it was actually happening, it still felt like some sort of dream, completely separate from reality. 

Part of Yosuke was sure he was reading all of this wrong, but then he didn’t know how else to interpret Souji’s insistence on accompanying him, the bright interest in his eyes at everything that came out of Yosuke’s mouth no matter how weird, or the way Souji gravitated toward Yosuke, not allowing more than a few inches between them. 

Literally, when Yosuke had walked around a manhole cover ( _no,_ he wasn’t a kid anymore who believed he would fall into the sewer if he stepped on it and since this wasn’t New York City there would be no Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles down there to save him… but better safe than sorry), Souji had followed his sidestep and walked directly over the cover (but survived, much to Yosuke’s relief). 

“So you were homeschooled by your mom all those years…” Souji said, his calm voice still loud in Yosuke’s ears against the serene night surrounding them. “What was that like?” 

“Wild. You wouldn’t think homeschooling would be wild, but my mom, she’s really something. She never let things get too boring, that’s for sure.”

“So you two are close?” 

“Oh yeah, super close. We do everything together. She’s… I mean, you’ll probably think this is weird for a teenage dude to say, but my mom is everything to me. She basically dedicated her entire life to me and making sure I had the best life possible, you know? Plus she’s like, hilarious and super clever, and also pretty woke for an old person…”

Souji chuckled at that, alerting Yosuke to the fact that he might need to wrap up with gushing over his mom.

He finished, “Sorry, I’m rambling, but yeah, I love her a lot.”

“You don’t have to apologize. I don’t think that’s weird,” Souji said, slowing his pace and looking up to the sky. “I think it’s amazing.”

“Huh? _Amazing?_ Isn’t that kind of an exaggeration?”

Souji shook his head. “I’m not very close to my parents. We’re family and we love each other, but mostly we just kind of coexist. It’s nothing like what you have with your mom. I’m jealous.”

 _“Jealous?!”_ Yosuke exclaimed too-loudly. _“You,_ jealous of _me?_ Man, what a crazy day!”

“Hm? Would it really be that strange for me to be jealous of you?” Souji asked, gazing sideways at Yosuke, which Yosuke tried his very hardest to ignore. “I mean, just look at you.” 

Yosuke’s brain immediately short-circuited. 

_What is that supposed to mean? He’s not flirting with me right now, is he?! No way. I look like a hot mess! Unless… he thinks looking like a mess is hot? But no, he’s always seemed pretty meticulous about his own appearance, so that wouldn’t make sense. But then what the heck did he mean by that? Does he actually like how I look? Was Chie actually right about redirecting Souji’s attention to my ‘pretty-boy face’? Wait, was Mom right all these years about how cute I am?! No way. No freakin’ way. There has to be some other explanation. Maybe he’s secretly an idiot…_

“Um, sorry,” Souji suddenly apologized, blushing and looking away. 

“You don’t… um, you don’t have to apologize,” Yosuke said, echoing Souji’s earlier sentiment. 

Souji looked to Yosuke in surprise, but then he smiled through his embarrassment, looking at Yosuke like he was some sort of angel or something. Meanwhile, Yosuke had to try his damnedest to not get mesmerized by that idiotic smile (a smile that Yosuke had never quite seen on him before), or else the cycle of embarrassment would never stop. 

He quickly looked for a change of subject and was reminded of his precious notebook that he had been hugging in his arms this whole time.

“Hey, so what did you think about the songs that you read?”

“I wanna hear them,” Souji stated bluntly. “Um, what I mean is, the point of a song is to be heard, right? I couldn’t get the full experience just reading the words. So it’d be nice if I could hear you sing them one day?”

Yosuke could only stare at him in pure confusion, so Souji restated, “I, um, would really like for you to play them for me one day.”

“Oh,” Yosuke said shortly, still not recovered from the first short-circuit and unable to process the fact that _Souji Seta_ wanted his future to consist of Yosuke _serenading_ him. 

Very much needing to tap out of this wholly illogical situation, Yosuke changed the subject again, pointing toward his house. “Yeah, so that’s me right there. You don’t have to walk me all the way…”

“Wait, you live right there?” Souji interrupted. “I’ve taken this way to school and to swim practice pretty much every day since I was a kid. How have I never seen you?”

“Uhhh, I spend a lot of time indoors?” Yosuke answered shakily, not wanting to directly lie but not exactly wanting to tell the full truth either. “Haha yep, I’m a real homebody! I like to stay in and hang out with my mom and write songs and stuff!” he said, nervously waving his notebook around. “Anyways, thanks again for making sure this got back to me, I’ll be going now…”

“So can I see you again sometime?” Souji asked, once again interrupting a hasty escape attempt. 

“Um, s-see me?” Yosuke stuttered, excitement suddenly bubbling up in him. “Ha, well, if you wanna see me again, just take a picture; it’ll last longer, haha…” 

Souji whipped out his phone so fast Yosuke didn’t even realize what had just happened until the photo was already taken. 

“Cute,” Souji said almost to himself, smiling down at the photo. 

“H-hey, I didn’t mean literally! I was just joking. You should probably delete that!” 

“Nope,” Souji said, quickly pocketing his phone. “But I would still like to see you in person again sometime. If you’re okay with that, I mean.”

“Uhhh, sure? Yeah, I’d probably be okay with that? I mean, no, I _would_ be okay with that! Um, not just okay, I would… crap, let me start that answer over, okay?” Yosuke said, taking a deep breath to quell the internal volcano threatening to erupt and then very calmly stating, “Yes. I would also like to see you again.” 

“Perfect,” Souji said with another stupidly dazzling smile. “You should probably open your notebook to the bookmarked page, then.”

“Huh?” Yosuke said, flipping his notebook open to the page where the ribbon bookmark was. 

On the page opposite of “I’ll Just Keep Swimming,” Souji had written out his name in all caps and his phone number, his neat handwriting taking up the majority of the page. 

“You…” Yosuke started, feeling absolutely _giddy,_ which was probably a ridiculous feeling to feel. “You not only read through my notebook, but you _wrote_ in it too? I could have used this page to write a whole masterpiece of a song! The _audacity,”_ he teased. 

Souji smirked and shrugged. “I _have_ been known to have an audacious moment now and then.” 

“Oh, have you? Well, now I’m intrigued!” 

“Maybe you will be lucky enough to witness one of those moments one of these days.” 

“Are you implying that I haven’t already? You grabbed my guitar case when I was trying to leave, you yelled after me when I was running away, you waited for me at the station for hours apparently, and managed to get Chie and Daidara to conspire against me, you held my notebook hostage just so you could see me again—you, sir, have been nothing _but_ audacious,” Yosuke laughed while also anxiously wondering where he had just gotten the courage to call Souji out like that. 

“Touché,” Souji said with a guilty grin, raising his hands in surrender. “I don’t regret it, though. I promise I’m not always like this. But just this once, I think it was worth it.” 

“Okay, you’re too much,” Yosuke said, spinning on his heel and starting to walk away. “Good night, Souji Seta!” 

“Wait!” Souji called after him. “When can I see you again?” 

“I… I’m usually never free during the day, but…” Yosuke hesitated, suddenly feeling like he was making one of the biggest decisions of his life. “…I’m typically free at night?” 

“I’m free at night,” Souji replied quickly, and Yosuke wasn’t sure if Souji was _actually_ free, or if he was just going to clear out his schedule for Yosuke, prior engagements be damned. 

“Cool,” Yosuke breathed. “I’ll, uh, text you, at this giant phone number you’ve emblazoned upon my notebook.” 

“And I will receive that text and save your number to my contacts and add your photo.”

“Please don’t add the photo. Or at least, take a better one later when I don’t look like I just crawled out of hibernation.” 

“I will gladly take more photos of you later.” 

Yosuke clapped his notebook shut and used it to hide his face. _“Audacity!_ All right, I’m really going home this time, and you can’t stop me! Goodbye!” 

“Good night, Yosuke Hanamura,” Souji said warmly, so warmly that Yosuke quickly lowered his notebook to see Souji’s expression. 

He was not disappointed; it was beautiful. 

“I'll see you later, Souji Seta,” Yosuke said softly, momentarily forgetting that he couldn't be touched by sunlight, because the heat and joy Souji was providing him just by standing there and being himself was more than enough.


	14. Building on a Foundation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy holidays, everyone!

“That is so romantic, it _disgusts_ me,” Chie groaned, sounding actually pained as she sprawled across Yosuke’s bed and flopped onto her back. 

Yosuke grinned and spun around in his desk chair for what felt like the hundredth time that afternoon, and even though he was dizzy, he couldn’t help it. Catching Chie up on every single detail of what had happened with Souji the night before just got him excited all over again. 

“I just can’t believe it, Chie! Everything could have gone so wrong, but it didn’t! Is this what a miracle feels like? He thought I was great, no matter what I said!”

“I can’t believe it either; you made such an ass of yourself! You probably could have said anything, and he would have eaten it up,” Chie said, staring at the ceiling. “Speaking of, what’d he say about your XP?” 

“Nothing…” Yosuke answered, spinning slower this time so Chie couldn’t see his face. 

“Seriously? Nothing? I mean, he does seem kind of weird, but not saying _anything_ about your XP is a little too weird, don’t you think?”

“He didn’t say anything about it because I didn’t tell him,” Yosuke said, finishing his slow spin and bracing for Chie’s reaction. 

She immediately flopped onto her side and glared at him disbelievingly. “What do you _mean_ you didn’t tell him?” 

“I mean that I didn’t tell him!” Yosuke said defensively. “It didn’t come up!” 

“Well you should have _brought_ it up! It’s kind of a big part of your life, Yosuke.” 

“I’m aware it’s a big part of my life! I’m the one living it, remember?” 

“Don’t you sass me!” Chie warned, sitting up and dangling one leg off the bed. “You’re seriously gonna try and build a relationship with this guy on a foundation of _lies?”_

“I know your cousins are in construction, but cool it with the building metaphors,” Yosuke sighed. “And we’re not ‘building a relationship,’ okay?”

“Don’t be stupid! If you’re gonna see him again—if you wanna _date_ him—you have to tell him the truth.” 

“I’m not even sure he would be interested in something like that, so why treat this like something serious when it’s not?

“Because you’re in _love_ with him, you idiot! And I’m pretty damn sure he’s into you too.”

“I just met him, Chie; I’m not gonna march up to him and be like, ‘Hey, dude, I know we’re not official or anything, but if you asked me to marry you right now, I would say yes, so… wanna know about the worst part of my life? If the sun hits me, BAM! I’m a goner!’ Yeah, that’ll kill the mood even faster than my dumpy clothes or me saying stupid shit all the time,” Yosuke grumbled.

“Well according to a certain retelling of last night that I heard very recently, he didn’t mind your dumpy clothes, he loved all the stupid shit you said, and he’s a ridiculously sweet and kind person who would not like you any less for something that’s out of your control.” 

“Yeah, it _is_ out of my control, and it sucks! What handsome, eligible guy in the prime of his life is gonna wanna go out with a walking disease who he can only see at night, or else said guy will spontaneously combust? Seriously, who in their right mind is gonna pick being with me over living a normal life?” 

“Your mom did,” Chie said, staring Yosuke down. “I did.” 

Yosuke bit the inside of his cheek, not knowing what to say to that. He loved his mom and Chie and was so grateful for all the love and attention they had given him over the years, but that didn’t mean he didn’t feel guilty _all the time_ about the lives they could have had if he wasn’t there to bog them down.

“And we wouldn’t have it any other way,” Chie insisted with a frown, having an inkling of where Yosuke’s thoughts had gone. “The things that you think are ‘normal’ aren’t all that great, Yosuke. Remember what I told you about ‘normal’ school all these years when you wished you could go too? Overrated. I would have killed to be homeschooled by your mom. You are so lucky to have her.”

“I know,” Yosuke said quietly, looking toward the window. 

“You just have to accept that your life is never going to fit into this ‘normal’ box you’ve made up in your head, and that’s okay! It’s better than okay! Because you can create your own unique life and make it as good as everyone else’s, if not way better. That’s what your mom tried to create for you.” 

Yosuke muttered, “Why’d you have to bring my mom into this?”

“Do you think _she_ would be okay with you not telling him? Because I don’t think so! You need to tell him, Yosuke. He deserves to know, for his sake and yours.” 

“I will tell him if and when he needs to know, okay?” Yosuke insisted. “Just, _please_ don’t judge me for wanting to be seen as a person for just a little bit longer.”

Chie shook her head. “If this guy is all that you think he is—if he’s all that you want him to be—then he’ll accept you for the person you are. And if he doesn’t, then he doesn’t deserve you.”

 _“Stop_ putting me on a pedestal like that. Yeah, no one deserves me, because no one deserves to have to deal with me and all my problems! You know what Souji deserves? To never see me again, because nothing good is gonna come out of it! This _thing_ shouldn’t happen, okay? Sorry, I went off to Fantasy Land and forgot about that for a minute, but I’m back. It’s his stupid eyes; I look into them and suddenly forget all reason. But he deserves better. My mom deserves better. _You_ deserve _better.”_

“You’re pissing me off, Hanamura! If you say one more thing like that, I’ll knock you flat on your ass!” she threatened, raising a clenched fist. “Give yourself a freaking chance! Give _him_ a chance! You don’t get to say no for him. Give him the facts, and then let him decide what to do with them. That’s the only thing that’s fair to both of you.” 

“I don’t even know when I’ll see him again!”

“Tonight,” Chie said resolutely, snatching her phone off the mattress. “You’re gonna see him tonight.” 

“What? No! Who are you texting?” 

“Yukiko is throwing a party tonight.” 

“Yukiko? Isn’t that your coworker? The weird one who never stops laughing at the names of the ice cream flavors because they’re all puns? I thought you didn’t like her.” 

“Well, it’s a kegger, and I like free alcohol. And I have a plan! Yukiko said to bring friends, so I’m bringing you, and you’re bringing Souji,” Chie said, firing off a text to Yukiko that she had plus three coming to her party tonight. 

Yosuke started to panic. “Wh-what? No way. This is super last-minute! I can’t ask him…”

“We’ll get you all spruced up and looking hot for your man, and then we’ll find out _exactly_ how much he likes you. Once he’s full of drinks and empty on inhibitions, and he sees you looking like a million bucks standing under a single spotlight on the dance floor, and it becomes painfully obvious how smitten he is with you when he insistently dances with you until the clock chimes at midnight and he realizes you're his soulmate… then you’ll _have_ to tell him the truth!” 

“Wow, we really have watched way too many movies for you to think that is an actual viable plan,” Yosuke sighed. 

“Maybe it won’t go like that _exactly,_ but that’ll be the gist! You’ll look good, he won’t be able to resist, and then we'll start building the relationship on a foundation of _truth!”_ Chie exclaimed, pounding her fist on her open palm with determination. “And then I’ll forgive you for all the horrible, untrue things you just said.”

“Chie, I’m sor—”

“Nope, I don’t wanna hear it! Apology not accepted! You _will_ go through with my plan, and you will _like_ it. Text him right now.” 

“No!” 

“Yes!” 

_“No!”_

“Yosuke, I will kick your sorry a—” 

_“Fine!_ But what the hell am I supposed to say to him?”

“Here, I’ll help you.”

* * *

Souji wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his forearm, taking a breather before returning to wiping down the side of the boat. 

His phone was sitting on the boat and pinged with a text message, but he kept working, used to his phone going off nonstop.

His curiosity was piqued however when he got a second and third text, and when he glanced over and saw Yosuke Hanamura’s name and photo on his screen, he dropped his rag in his excitement and then picked up his phone, nearly dropping that too.

_“Hello. My friend Yukiko is having a party at her house tonight if you want to come.”_

_“I don’t care if you come or not.”_

_“Because I have lots of other friends who will be there.”_

Souji couldn’t help but laugh a little. It was a strange invitation, but at this point he was starting to expect that sort of thing from Yosuke. 

Another text came in, but this time it was from Chie. 

_“I am so sorry. I tried to coach Yosuke through that last set of texts, but I should have checked what he was typing before I let him hit send. Like I explained before, he just says weird things sometimes that he doesn’t mean.”_

Souji smiled and texted back: _“It’s okay. I didn’t mind.”_

Then he went back to Yosuke’s messages and replied: _“I’m in.”_

Souji looked up at the late afternoon sun and then back down to the time on his phone, and he nearly dropped it again. There were only mere _hours_ between him and this party, and he was currently drenched in sweat and probably smelling like hot garbage. If he was going to look good (like, impress-Yosuke-level _good),_ then he was already behind. 

Pocketing his phone and hopping down onto the dock (abandoning his work, but the boat looked good enough for now probably), Souji hurried toward home, excited for the night ahead. 


	15. Go for the Gold

“Mrs. H, this is gonna be a tame, safe, parent-friendly party!” Chie exclaimed, on Mrs. Hanamura’s heels with Yosuke in tow. 

“Wow, that sounds lame!” Mrs. Hanamura said, sounding falsely chipper as the kids trailed her from the living room to the kitchen. “You know what’s tame, safe, parent-friendly, and _not_ lame? Staying here with me! We can order Aiya’s, put on a movie—it’ll be perfect!” 

She pulled on the handle of the refrigerator to get a drink, but then Yosuke caught the handle and gently shut the door. He wedged himself between her and the fridge and looked at her with those adorable eyes that she most certainly could not handle. 

“Mom,” he started, much gentler in his approach than Chie. “You know I’m a good kid and I’m not gonna do anything crazy. But I’m also technically an adult now, and if I have to stay inside this house _one more night_ just listening to the rest of the world going by my window and living their lives, I might _lose my mind.”_

“Honey, you can’t lose your mind,” Mrs. Hanamura said equally gently, taking his face in her hands. “You’re a Hanamura; you never had your mind in the first place.” 

_“Mom!”_ he groaned, not able to get away from her hold since his back was to the fridge. 

Even Chie snickered at that, but after Yosuke shot her a look, she jumped in to help, latching onto Mrs. Hanamura’s arm and lightly shaking her. 

“Come on, Mrs. H! Please? I’ll be there to watch out for him! Pretty please? With teriyaki sauce on top?”

The children had closed in on her and were both giving her the adorable eyes now, and as Mrs. Hanamura looked back and forth between the two of them, she felt her parental superpowers draining right out of her.

“Kryptonite,” she said weakly, hanging her head. 

“I promise we can all hang out tomorrow night, Mom,” Yosuke said, his cheeks still squished between her hands. “We can put on our fat pants and order the Rainy Day Beef Bowl Special and have a movie marathon all night if you want!”

Dropping her hands away from his face and plunking her forehead onto his chest, Mrs. Hanamura muttered something unintelligible. 

“What was that, Mom?” 

She muttered more loudly, “I wanna watch Pride and Prejudice.” 

“Sure, we can watch that,” Yosuke assured his deflated mother. “We love Keira Knightley.”

“Yeah, she’s hot,” Chie agreed. 

“No, not the movie… I want to watch… the BBC series,” Mrs. Hanamura said, lifting her head to look Yosuke in the eyes. “I want to watch the entire miniseries!” 

“Yeah, we can do that too,” Yosuke said, nodding. “Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy? Total dreamboat. We can even rewind your favorite scene when he comes out of the lake with the white shirt a few times.” 

Chie said, “I like Mr. Bingley, and Jane!”

“Me too. They're very sweet together. But Lizzie is the best. She and Darcy are my OTP,” Mrs. Hanamura said with a heavy sigh. “Fine, you can go.” 

Yosuke and Chie broke out in cheers and threw their arms around Mrs. Hanamura, excitedly thanking her and singing her praises. 

“Cutie sandwich,” Mrs. Hanamura said from between them. “So unfair.” 

“We have to get ready!” Chie exclaimed, releasing Mrs. Hanamura and running toward the stairs, grabbing Yosuke’s hand on the way and dragging him with her. 

Mrs. Hanamura stared blankly at the refrigerator door, not really seeing the myriad of colorful magnets, drawings, and photos. 

That was until Yosuke returned, sliding between her and the fridge once more. He silently opened the door, pulled out the pink lemonade, and placed the carton into her hands. 

She stared down at it for a moment, wondering how he had known that was what she wanted, but when she looked up at him questioningly, he just winked and then gave her a quick kiss on the forehead before taking off for the stairs again. 

It was such a cute gesture that Mrs. Hanamura briefly thought about what materials she might have on hand to bar the front door with, because she didn’t want to share her cute Sweet Potato with the rest of the world; she wanted to keep him all to herself. 

Realizing it probably wouldn’t go over too well if she tried to literally cage Yosuke in, Mrs. Hanamura went to pour herself a glass of pink lemonade, focusing on the sweet promise of watching a wet-shirted Mr. Darcy the next night, with her Yosuke and her Chie safely by her side.

* * *

“White skinny jeans, definitely,” Chie said, throwing the pants at Yosuke and then continuing to rifle through Yosuke’s hangers. “None of the boys at that school could pull those off. Except maybe yours,” she tacked on thoughtfully. 

While Yosuke had showered, Chie had run home to grab everything she needed to get ready, and now they were both in his closet, looking for the perfect party outfit for him. Even though he rarely had any place to go, Yosuke often allocated a significant portion of his allowance toward fashionable clothing and shoes. It may have partially been wishful thinking, but tonight he actually did have somewhere to go, which was kind of exciting if he thought about it.

“He’s not _mine,”_ Yosuke said, momentarily distracted as he texted Yukiko’s address to Souji. “Camo Vans, maybe?” 

“Take your pants off, and put those on!” Chie ordered, pointing at the white jeans that were now on the floor at Yosuke’s feet. While he grumbled about how bossy she was but obediently changed his pants anyways, she looked through his shoe collection, evaluating all of their options. “Yeah, the camo sneaks should do,” she decided, pulling them down for him. “Now we need a top.” 

Yosuke fired off one more text to Souji before putting his phone in the pocket of his white jeans so he could focus. He looked around and pulled a navy shirt off its hanger, holding it up against himself. “How about this one?” 

“Hm, I like the idea of a v-neck, but don’t you have one a little, y’know, _deeper?_ And tighter?” 

“Just what exactly are you trying to make me look like, Chie?” Yosuke asked, tossing the navy shirt on the floor. 

“Every outfit makes a statement, Yosuke. We want yours to say: ‘Hello, world! I’m a hot dude who just showed up out of nowhere, and I’m here to steal the show!’ Duh.” 

“I don’t wanna stick out _too_ much! I mean, what do other guys normally wear to these types of things?” 

“What did I tell you about ‘normal’? It’s overrated bullshit! Guys our age think they can just throw on a pair of blue jeans and a semi-clean shirt, and girls will be crawling all over them. We have a different objective than those boring losers.” 

“Tell me how you _really_ feel!”

“This one,” Chie said, pulling down a different v-neck and tossing it at Yosuke, who caught it with one hand. “Go for the gold!” 

“It’s not gold; it’s mustard yellow,” Yosuke said as he threw off his t-shirt and put on the v-neck, recalling the exact moment he had set eyes on the shirt in an online catalog. 

“Yeah, no, gold sounds a lot better than _mustard,”_ Chie said, surveying how Yosuke looked in the shirt. “Perfect.” 

“Are you sure?” Yosuke asked, feeling embarrassed as he looked down at himself and realized Souji would be seeing him in this. “Isn’t the v-neck a little _too_ deep?” 

“No!” Chie exclaimed, turning away and picking out a belt for him to wear. “It shows off your chest and clavicles. It’s bright but not too bright, and I guarantee no one else will be wearing that color. And it’s fitted, so it won’t be leaving much to Souji’s imagination!” 

“Geez, Chie, let’s circumvent the party altogether and just invite Souji over here so I can _throw_ myself at him!” 

Holding the belt she had chosen in one hand and her phone in the other hand, Chie said, “I mean, if that’s really what you want, I can go ahead and give him a call—” 

“No! I’m just kidding! Put that away!” Yosuke cried, taking the belt out of her hand and putting it on. “You’re very pushy today.” 

Chie shrugged, looking him up and down as he fiddled with the belt buckle. “Hey, you better french tuck that shirt, mister! You act like you haven’t seen every episode of Queer Eye multiple times!” 

“So have you!” he retorted, tucking just the front of the shirt into his jeans. 

“Yeah, and I’m _acting_ like it! Jonathan would be so disappointed in your skin right now. And your lips, geez—” 

“What’s wrong with my lips?!” Yosuke asked, covering his mouth with his hand. 

“Dry, dry, dry!” Chie yelled, spinning and pushing him out of the closet and toward the bathroom. “We’ve got to moisturize everything! Where’s your lip balm?” 

“In the medicine cabinet!” 

Chie only found a single tube of the most basic, generic lip balm in there, and she sighed as she extracted it, handing it to him. “All the stuff I have is too glossy for you, so this will have to do. Slather it on and shut up for a little while so it can soak in, okay? We still have some time.” 

“Do I seriously have to? It’s not like I’ll be… kissing anyone…” Yosuke trailed off, eyes going wide at the thought.

“Even if you won’t be kissing anyone, you still want your lips to _look_ kissable. Or do you want Souji to take one look at your mouth and think, ‘Wow, I never want to kiss _that!_ ’ Is that what you want, Hanamura?!”

“N-no!” Yosuke squeaked, wrenching the cap off the lip balm and applying it very liberally. 

Chie grabbed a comb and then jumped up and sat on the counter so she could reach Yosuke’s hair. “We’ll keep this mostly how it is since it can’t really be tamed, but if we just move your part over a _tiny little bit,_ it’ll look different enough for him to look twice.” 

“Whatever you say, Boss,” Yosuke said, knowing there was no arguing with Chie at this point, not when she was so sure of herself. She wasn’t wrong though; all those years of watching fashion-related shows were paying off (Tyra would be proud). 

“I _am_ a boss, but don’t call me that,” Chie said, sticking her tongue out at him, knowing he was doing it because she told him about Yukiko calling her that. 

Once Chie was mostly satisfied with his appearance, she shoved a bottle of lotion into his hands (“Moisturize! I don’t want to see a single dry elbow!”) and kicked him out of the bathroom so she could get ready (which he found a little hypocritical since she’d been so opinionated about how _he_ looked). 

Yosuke checked himself out in the full-length mirror in his room, and he had to admit he looked pretty damn good. He just hoped Souji would think so too. 

Feeling an uncomfortable fluttering in his stomach at the thought, Yosuke sat down by the window and poured some lotion into his hand, starting with his elbows so he wouldn’t forget them. 

Once he was done dutifully moisturizing, he pulled on his headphones. He always found comfort in them, even if they were just hanging around his neck; if he needed to escape into another world, it was nice to know it was readily available to him. 

He put on a familiar playlist and closed his eyes, content to distract himself until Chie was ready.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me, dressing myself: whatever.  
> Me, dressing fictional characters: FASHION!!!  
> Yosuke's outfit is partially inspired by Katie's dress in the movie, as well as Jiraiya. 
> 
> Also, I am having WAY too much fun with the whole 'Yosk & Chie grew up watching lots of movies/shows' thing, lol.


	16. In Fashion

When Chie finally emerged a whole playlist later, Yosuke’s eyebrows shot up. As he pulled his headphones down, she spun around with a confident smile. Yosuke had never seen her party look, but she definitely rocked it. She’d done a light layer of makeup, and her short hair looked more textured than usual, with one side of it pinned up and away from her face. She was wearing a black crop top/high-waisted skirt combo, black tights, and black combat boots, topped off with an army green jacket. 

Smirking as he made his way over to her, Yosuke asked, “And what statement are we making with _ this  _ outfit?”

“I’m a badass, and I know it! I’m untouchable, unless I  _ want _ someone to touch me,” she said, waggling her eyebrows. 

Yosuke snorted and then poked her in the small strip of her stomach that was visible. “Nothing says ‘badass’ like a set of abs,” he laughed. 

“Damn straight!” she said, turning to Yosuke’s mirror and looking at the both of them with satisfaction.

Looking in the mirror as well, Yosuke said, “I mean, I would compliment you, but you seem to already know—”

“No, compliment me anyways!” Chie said eagerly, tugging on his arm. 

“You look great, Chie,” he said genuinely. “And so do I!” 

“Hell yeah!” Chie said cheerfully. “Let’s go break some hearts!” 

“Huh? I don’t want to break his heart.” 

Shaking her head and patting his arm, Chie said, “No, Sweet Potato, you’re going to break the hearts of everyone who  _ isn’t _ him.”

“Oh, okay,” Yosuke said, mulling over that statement as he started to remove his headphones.

“No, leave them on,” Chie said suddenly. “They draw attention to the v-neck. Plus they tie everything together.”

Yosuke looked at himself curiously, and once again, Chie was right. Plus he wasn’t opposed to having his comfort item with him as he went into this new, unfamiliar situation.

“Okay,” he agreed, smiling at his reflection. 

* * *

Mrs. Hanamura stood at the kitchen sink rinsing off some dishes when she heard Chie stomping down the stairs. 

“Mrs. H!” Chie called from the bottom step. 

Mrs. Hanamura turned off the water to look at Chie, seeing that she was dressed differently than she was used to seeing, but somehow still very Chie-like. 

“You look nice,” Mrs. Hanamura said, drying her hands on a dish towel as she stepped closer. 

“Yes, I do! And also for your viewing pleasure…” Chie said grandly, gesturing up the stairs with both arms. “May I present, Yosuke Hanamura of Washington!” 

Yosuke slowly descended the stairs, shooting Chie an exasperated look, before looking shyly, almost guiltily, toward his mom.

Her mouth dropped open, and she quickly covered it with her hand. 

He looked older, somehow. He had an excited energy about him despite the nervous look on his face. He looked handsome and vibrant and like a single spotlight should have been shining down on him from above. 

He looked like her husband when she had first met him. 

“Wow…” she said slowly, continuing to stare at him like she could conjure up the past if she just stayed still and soaked in this moment. “Sweet Potato… you look amazing.” 

Yosuke’s whole countenance changed, lit up by a bright, confident smile. 

When Mrs. Hanamura looked to Chie, she looked very satisfied with herself, and Mrs. Hanamura couldn’t blame her. 

“Chie, could you grab him a jacket? One that’ll go with his outfit?”

“Oh, right!” Chie said, taking the bait and squeezing past Yosuke on her way back up the stairs. “I know just the one! The black one with the gold zipper and the little buckles on the sleeves! I’ll be right back!”

Mrs. Hanamura stepped closer to the stairs and held her arms out, and Yosuke immediately came the rest of the way down to step into them. 

“Everything okay, Mom?” he asked, adjusting his arms around her back.

“I love you so much,” she said, giving him one tight squeeze and then pulling back to look up at his face. 

Looking concerned, he said, “I love you too…” 

She held him by the arms, indulging herself by soaking in the sight of him a  _ little  _ longer, and Yosuke silently obliged her.

“Found it!” Chie eventually yelled from Yosuke’s closet. 

Gathering her courage to let the moment go, Mrs. Hanamura grabbed hold of both of Yosuke’s elbows and asked, “Did you moisturize these?”

“Yeah,” he laughed. “Chie made me.”

“What a good girl. Do you know why I made her get you a jacket?”

“Uh, is it supposed to rain tonight?”

Poking his clavicles with her index fingers, she teased, “Because these guys might get cold.” 

“Mom!” he exclaimed, blushing and squirming past her. 

“All right, Yosuke, let’s go!” Chie called as she sped down the stairs. 

She tossed the jacket over Mrs. Hanamura’s head to Yosuke, who caught it and started pulling it on.

“Now just wait a second!” Mrs. Hanamura interjected, standing at the bottom of the stairs to block Chie. “You two really think I’m going to let you out of the house looking like this…” she paused for dramatic effect, enjoying Chie’s look of confusion, “…without taking some photos first? I’m a photographer, you know! I can’t just let beautiful things pass me by without capturing them!” she exclaimed, wrestling a laughing Chie into a tight hold. “Yosuke, get my camera from the living room! What are you guys trying to be, anyway?  _ On time?  _ Fashionably late is always in fashion, my little models!” 

“She has a point,” Yosuke agreed, running off to fetch the camera. 

“I should have known we couldn’t make a hasty escape looking this good!” Chie said, play-grappling with Mrs. Hanamura. 

“Yep, you should have known! You two look super cute but also a little rebellious; I bet we could get some nice, moody shots…” 

“Get one of me punching Yosuke!” 

“Lovingly?” 

“Sure!” 

Mrs. Hanamura hugged Chie aggressively, lifting her up off the bottom step and setting her back down while muttering, “Darn cute Chie, making my Sweet Potato look all grown up and handsome, so unfair…”

“It’s gonna be okay, Mrs. H,” Chie assured her, patting her hair. “I’ll keep him safe from all the suitors he’s bound to attract.” 

“Give ‘em the wrath of Chie, okay?” 

“You know I will!” 

“Good girl.” 

After their impromptu photoshoot, Yosuke and Chie headed out the door, and Mrs. Hanamura stood watching them go. They ran down the first set of steps but paused on the lower platform of the large porch so Chie could straighten out Yosuke’s headphones. Yosuke took that moment to cast his mom one last sidelong glance, and as he gave her a small smile, her heart was as full as it was heavy. 

“Bye, Mrs. H!” Chie called when she was done, and then she took Yosuke’s hand and pulled him down the rest of the stairs. 

“Bye,” Mrs. Hanamura said quietly as they disappeared from view, and then she stepped back into the house and closed the front door (that a small part of her still wished she had barred to keep them in). 

In any case, now that the two of them were out of the house, it was the perfect time to take inventory of all her weapons. When Yosuke had asked how many there were, she wouldn’t have been able to answer accurately if she’d wanted to—there were just so many. Plus it’d be good to have them organized in case she needed them for any of these potential ‘suitors’ Chie had mentioned. 


	17. Yukiko's Tropical Rager

“I can’t believe Yukiko’s throwing a kegger,” Chie laughed as she and Yosuke bounded up the front steps of Yukiko’s house. 

Yosuke noted that the house was bigger than his own, which meant Yukiko’s family had to be pretty well off. He vaguely remembered Chie mentioning that Yukiko’s family operated a popular bed and breakfast close to the beach, but now he had to wonder why Yukiko would be working a minimum wage job at an ice cream shop if that was the case. 

Before Chie could knock on the front door, a pretty girl with jet black hair tied into a tight bun swung the door open. “Boss! You came!” 

“I  _ told _ you we were coming, Yukiko,” Chie said, putting her hands on her hips. “And I told you not to call me that!” 

Yukiko chuckled a bit behind her hand, and Yosuke immediately thought the bit of good-natured teasing was super cute. He didn’t understand how Chie could not like this girl.

“Ah, and who is your hot friend?” Yukiko asked, looking up at Yosuke and then back to Chie like she had said something completely socially acceptable. 

Yosuke nearly choked. 

Okay, so maybe Yukiko was a little blunt, Yosuke thought, but that was no reason to not befriend her, probably.

Subtly stepping slightly in front of Yosuke, Chie said, “This is my best friend, Yosuke Hanamura.” 

Yukiko asked, “Well, do either you or your Yosuke Hanamura, by chance, know how to get beer  _ out _ of a keg?” 

Chie’s face fell. “Wait, seriously? Are you joking right now?” 

“Do I ever joke?” 

“All the time!” Chie exclaimed in annoyance, pushing past Yukiko. 

“Hm, I suppose that’s true,” Yukiko said with another short laugh as she watched Chie stomp into her house. “Please, come in,” she said to Yosuke. 

“Um, thanks for having me,” Yosuke said, awkwardly slipping past Yukiko, who shut the door after him. “It’s nice to meet you.” 

“And you as well. We’ve set everything up upstairs if you’d like to head on up. It looks like Chie is already hot on the trail.” 

They both watched as Chie stomped up the stairs, yelling at Yukiko about something or other.

“Huh, so she does this in other people’s houses too… Sorry about her,” he apologized to Yukiko, following after Chie. “She warms up the longer you get to know her.”

“Oh, I know. She’s here, after all,” Yukiko said with a smile. “She used to not give me the time of day!”

“Uh, you sound oddly cheerful about that…” 

Once they caught up to Chie in the hall at the top of the stairs, Yosuke saw that Yukiko had decorated with colorful streamers and other paper decorations, in what looked like a tropical theme with some palm trees, pineapples, and flamingos. He liked it, he decided, running his hand along the streamers as they went down the length of the hallway. 

Chie asked Yukiko over her shoulder, “You didn’t get a tap?” 

“A tap?” Yukiko asked, seemingly clueless as to what that was. 

“It’s a specialized valve that controls the release of beer up and out of the keg,” Yosuke explained, but when Yukiko looked impressed, he added with a shy laugh, “I learned that from movies.”

“Ah, I don't get to watch a lot of movies; that must be why I didn't know about this so-called 'tap.’ What tap-related films would you recommend?”

Just as Yosuke was starting to curate a mental list of film recommendations for her, Chie interrupted with, “Don't encourage her, Yosuke!”

As the three of them emerged in the main room, Yosuke vaguely recognized a funk track that he hadn’t heard in years playing in the background, and the main lights were low, while strings of white Christmas lights were hung up around the perimeter of the room. 

“You’ve  _ got _ to be kidding me,” Chie said suddenly, and Yosuke followed her line of sight to the only other people in the room—three guys in the corner hovering over a keg with various tools in their hands. The petite boy with blue hair seemed to be in charge, hand on his chin as he surveyed the top of the keg, and he was flanked by two blond guys—one big, muscular one who looked like he was about to kick the keg’s ass, and the other whose sparkly, blue eyes brightened as soon as they landed on Yosuke and Chie. 

He whistled shamelessly and exclaimed, “Look, Yukiko brought us two cuties!” 

“C-cuties?” Yosuke stuttered, surprised to have garnered another sudden, positive review of his appearance (however inappropriate). 

“Teddie, that’s inappropriate,” the blue-haired one said without looking up, continuing to puzzle over the keg. 

“Oh, sorry! Yukiko brought us two  _ hotties!”  _ Teddie amended. 

The muscular one shouted, “That ain’t any better, ya moron!” 

Yukiko introduced happily, “These are my friends: Teddie, Naoto, and Kanji.”

“Hi there!” 

“Hello.” 

“‘Sup.” 

“Friends, meet Chie Satonaka and her Yosuke Hanamura.” 

“I’m not…  _ her _ Yosuke Hanamura,” Yosuke said weakly, but Chie just shook her head as Yukiko chuckled yet again. 

“It’s too late, Yosuke,” Chie sighed. “She’s already made it into her own little joke that only she finds funny, and that’s just how it’s gonna be for the rest of eternity.”

Teddie exclaimed, “Wow, this fine specimen of a lady understands you so well, Yuki!” 

Chie snapped at him, “Don’t you objectify me, you punk!”

“Heh, she called you a punk,” Kanji snickered. 

After looking around a bit more, Chie suddenly rounded on Yukiko and yelled,  _ “This _ is your kegger?! This is not the rager you promised me, Yukiko; this is a tame, safe, parent-friendly party!” 

“But that can’t be true,” Yukiko said thoughtfully, gesturing to a side table. “I’ve set up a sundae bar.” 

“Ragers don’t have sundae bars!” Chie said exasperatedly. 

Yosuke didn’t see what the problem was, and apparently neither did Yukiko, who just looked mildly confused. 

Yosuke offered, “I love sundaes.” 

“Me too, me too!” Teddie chimed in. “And so does Naoto!” 

“That’s not… untrue…” Naoto said, looking embarrassed for some reason, which seemed to capture Kanji’s attention. 

“Well then I’ll make sundaes for all of ya!” Kanji proclaimed aggressively. “I make a mean sundae!” 

Yukiko requested politely, “Please help open the keg first, Kanji.”

“Fine! Move over, Naoto. Let me at that thing!” 

Naoto sighed, “I don’t believe you can muscle the beer out.” 

Teddie suggested, “Maybe he can  _ scare _ it out with his face!”

“The hell is that supposed to mean?!” Kanji yelled, and then he grumbled, “Like hell I’m making _ you _ a sundae. Whatever, man, let’s just take this outside and smash it open!” 

Yosuke smiled at the three of them; they seemed to be really close friends. 

Looking around the room happily, Yosuke said, “I like this party.”

“See?” Yukiko said, smiling at Chie.

“He’s never been to an actual party! He doesn’t understand how dire the situation is,” Chie said, grabbing his arm and starting to drag him away. “Let’s get out of here, Yosuke.” 

“What? Why?” Yosuke protested, shaking his arm free and standing beside Yukiko, who he felt Chie was being way too harsh to. 

“You’re leaving already?” Yukiko asked with a frown. “But I just put on a big pot of curry.” 

“Yukiko! Curry is  _ not _ a party food!” 

“Not even if you put sea cucumber in it?” Yukiko asked, tilting her head. 

Chie looked like she wanted to hurl.  _ “Especially _ not then!” 

Everyone paused when they heard someone pull up outside and the slamming of a car door. 

“See? The party is just getting started,” Yukiko said cheerfully, heading toward the stairs to greet her new guest. 

As they followed after Yukiko, Yosuke whispered to Chie, “Hey, lighten up! Give her a chance.” 

“I  _ gave _ her a chance by coming here! Trust me, Yosuke, I’ve been to other parties, and this party is definitely  _ not _ the kind of place for impressing a popular guy like Souji Seta. We need a Plan B, and fast, before he gets here.” 

As they went out the front door behind Yukiko though, Yosuke breathed, “Too late.”

“Oh no,” Chie groaned as Souji made his way up Yukiko’s long walkway, hands buried in his jacket pockets. 

Looking down at him from the porch, Yukiko asked curiously, “Hm, what is Souji Seta doing here?” 

“Ruining our shot at a Plan B,” Chie muttered, waving at Souji half-heartedly and then covering her face in shame. 

Yosuke stepped around the girls to get a better look at Souji, and Souji immediately slowed down to unabashedly stare up at Yosuke. 

Yosuke felt everything slip away—Chie’s embarrassment, Yukiko’s laughter, the thunder rumbling in the distance—everything except Souji Seta standing there looking so devastatingly handsome and, even more remarkably, so unmistakably in  _ awe _ of Yosuke. 

Chie’s plan… was working? 

Once Souji got close enough and clearly had no intention of ceasing to stare at Yosuke, Yosuke simply said, “Um, hi.” 

“Hi,” Souji replied dazedly, the single word filled with more warmth than Yosuke knew how to handle. And then out of nowhere and with complete clarity, Souji stated, “You look  _ amazing.” _

Feeling a little faint as blood rushed into his face, Yosuke caught himself with both hands on the railing of the porch, smiling helplessly. 

Chie’s plan  _ was _ working. 

Even though his head was swimming, Yosuke had just enough presence of mind left to earnestly reply, “So do you.”

Souji smiled brightly, and Yosuke suddenly felt like he could cry. 

Finally,  _ finally, _ Souji Seta was looking up at him, and by some inexplicable miracle, he liked what he saw. It was everything Yosuke had wanted for all these years, and he was so ridiculously happy, he would not have been surprised if he evaporated like a water droplet right up into the sky. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just wanted to say thank you to everyone for supporting this story so far. This fic lived in my head for a long time before I ever actually wrote any of it, and I was so worried no one would care for it since the movie (the U.S. version, anyways) isn't super popular or well-known. I thought writing this might turn out to be a waste of time and a letdown, and I convinced myself multiple times not to go through with it, but I am so happy that so many of you seem to be enjoying this. The kind words I've received in the comments mean so much to me, and I really do enjoy writing this and how it has turned out. So again, thank you so much! ^_^


	18. Odd Taste

Yosuke could have stared down at Souji from the porch forever, but eventually Chie loudly cleared her throat, alerting him to the fact that she and Yukiko were still there. Then Yukiko let out an abrupt laugh she had apparently been holding in, and by the time Yosuke looked back to Souji, he saw a bright flash, signaling that Souji had taken yet another unexpected photo of him. 

Now Yosuke was sitting on a loveseat on the porch with Souji beside him, and Chie was sitting across from them, uncharacteristically quiet as the two of them chatted. Naoto, Kanji, and Teddie were below the porch in the yard, hoping to get the keg open before the approaching storm reached Yukiko’s house. 

Yosuke had tried to be subtle about cataloguing the pieces of Souji’s (delightfully fashionable) outfit (dark grey jeans, fitted light grey henley shirt, white belt with gold buckle, retro gold watch, black jacket, dark red sneakers…), but that all flew out the window as he curiously reached out and pulled open Souji’s jacket.

“Dark red lining. Nice,” Yosuke said, feeling satisfied until he realized how awkward he was being. “Oh, sorry!” he said, quickly letting go of the jacket and smoothing it back in place. “Your shoes are red, so I was just looking for more red, you know, to match. Not that it would have mattered if there wasn’t! More red, I mean. Sorry.” 

Yosuke risked a glance at Chie, who looked like she was in actual physical pain. When he looked back to Souji though, he just looked happy. 

Souji said, “You have a good eye.” 

“Thank you? Uh…” Yosuke hesitated, wanting to change the subject to distract from his little blunder. “I like your watch. It’s cool. It’s old school.”

“It used to be my uncle’s.”

“Oh,” Yosuke said, frowning. 

“Oh, no, he’s not dead,” Souji quickly clarified. “He gave it to me as a graduation present.”

“Oh! I shouldn’t have assumed… Good for him! Being alive still. Heh. Good for him.”

“He lives a few hours away with my aunt and my little cousin. I don’t get to see them as often as I’d like, but they’re really great.” 

“I’m happy for you,” Yosuke said, glad to hear the obvious affection in Souji’s voice, unlike when he had spoken about his parents. 

“You are?” Souji asked with that innocent head tilt of his. 

“Anyways,” Yosuke said, not wanting to explain himself and abruptly changing the subject again, “Hey, can I see that picture you took of me?” 

Souji obliged, pulling out his phone and pulling up the photo for Yosuke to look at.

“Please delete that,” Yosuke requested immediately, not liking how caught off-guard he looked.

“No,” Souji said, quickly withdrawing the phone, but not before Yosuke saw a bunch of texts come in all at once, the last of which was in all caps: ‘WHERE ARE YOU MAN???’ 

“Wow, you really  _ are _ popular, huh?” Yosuke asked, wondering who might be expecting him right now.

“Not really. Sorry, this thing is always going off,” Souji said self-consciously, opening up his settings. “I’ll put it on silent.” 

“While you’re at it, could you delete that photo?” Yosuke asked again. 

“But I like it.”

“But I  _ don’t _ like it.” 

“But you told me to take a better contact photo of you when you looked better.”

“I don’t think it went  _ exactly _ like that…” 

“Not that you didn’t look great before,” Souji suddenly backtracked. “I mean, as  _ stunning _ as you were in sweatpants…”

Chie started to snicker but then choked it back, obviously trying her hardest to be a fly on the wall as she watched the two of them interact. 

“…tonight you look even better,” Souji finished.

Yosuke got nervous again at the compliment and blurted out, “This is all thanks to Chie. Without her I wouldn’t look good at all!” 

Souji shook his head. “I don’t think so.” 

Yosuke blushed and looked away, making sure not to make eye contact with Chie, who he assumed would be wearing an insufferably smug look on her face right now. 

Suddenly breaking her silence, Chie asked, “Hey, what’s that weird smell?”

Just then, Yukiko reappeared through the front door carrying two steaming bowls with plastic spoons in them. 

“Here you are, Mr. Seta,” she said as if she was a waitress, handing one bowl to Souji and then the other to Yosuke. “And one bowl of curry for you as well, Mr. Hanamura.” 

“Oh, thank you,” Souji said politely, but his expression fell as soon as he saw the unnaturally gloppy concoction in the bowl. 

“Yeah, thanks,” Yosuke said as pleasantly as he could manage, accidentally taking a big whiff of the curry fumes and regretting it immediately as he started to cough.

“Don’t breathe through your nose,” Souji whispered to Yosuke, and Yosuke quickly took his advice.

Looking horrified, Chie yelled, “Yukiko! What the hell is that?!” 

“It’s curry, Chie. You didn’t seem interested earlier, but I can get you a bowl too if you’d like.” 

“Hell no! Why does it smell like that? Why is it that color? It’s practically glowing like freaking radioactive toxic waste! Yosuke, don’t eat that!” 

Yosuke didn’t have to be told twice, setting the bowl down away from himself. 

“He didn’t even get to try it,” Yukiko said sadly. “How about you, Souji? Could you try it and tell me if it needs anything? Maybe a bit more seasoning? Or sea cucumber?” 

“Um,” Souji said, gulping nervously as he stared into the bowl. “I’m actually not very hungry right now.” 

Chie asked indignantly, “Yukiko, did you even taste it yourself?” 

“Hm, no, but I’ve been told my taste is a bit odd, so I wanted someone else to try it first.” 

“Hell yeah your taste is odd! And not just when it comes to food.” 

“I’m not sure I know what you mean…” 

While the two of them went back and forth, Souji continued to stare into the dark abyss of curry, looking to be at war with himself. 

“A little couldn’t hurt  _ too _ much, right?” he asked himself, and then he courageously lifted the spoon. 

Yosuke was about to object when Souji lifted the handle of the spoon out of the bowl— _ just _ the handle—revealing that the main part of the spoon was completely gone; it had been eaten away by the curry. 

Chie cried, “Holy shit, it  _ is _ toxic waste!” 

Yosuke took the bowl from Souji’s hands and placed it next to his, safely out of Souji’s reach. 

“Oh my, it seems something went wrong,” Yukiko said far too calmly, seeming only mildly perplexed. “Perhaps I added too many chili peppers.” 

“Yeah, _ that’s _ the problem with it!” 

“Ah, well, I should hurry and get another pot of curry going before any more guests arrive.” 

“No!” Chie yelled, grabbing Yukiko’s wrist and pulling her down into the seat beside her. “What I mean is, I don’t think any more guests are coming. I’m pretty sure this is it.” 

Yukiko folded her hands and looked at her shoes disappointedly. “I suppose you’re right. I really thought we’d have a bigger turnout.” 

Teddie called from the yard, “I told you not to go up against Rise Kujikawa, Yuki! She’s a beary popular cheerleader! Any pretty lady who drives a pink convertible has to be incredibly powerful!” 

Throwing his tools down, Kanji asked, “What the hell are we doin’ tryin’ to throw a ‘normal’ party anyway? We should just go back to playin’ D&D!” 

Naoto added, “Our campaign  _ is _ at a pivotal point that I’m sure would be just as riveting as a party, if not more so.”

Yukiko asserted, “As your dungeon master, the campaign _cannot_ and _will_ _not_ go on without me.” Then she said more softly, “I just wanted to try and be normal for once.”

Yosuke’s heartstrings swiftly engaged, and he spoke up with, “You know, Yukiko, a wise, badass woman once told me that ‘normal’ is overrated. Maybe you’ll never fit into this idea of ‘normal’ you have in your head, and that’s okay.  _ You _ get to make your life, and it can be way better than normal!”

Yosuke gave Yukiko his most winning smile, and she smiled gently in return. 

“I see,” Yukiko said thoughtfully. “Thank you, Yosuke. That woman sounds quite exceptional.” 

“Oh, she is,” Yosuke said, still grinning while he looked straight at Chie, who took a big sniff and quickly swiped at the corners of her eyes. 

“Yosuke is right,” Souji said. “But if you really did want to experience a ‘normal’ party just once… I think I could help you.”

“You could?” Yukiko asked, sitting up straighter.

“I happen to have an in with that, er, ‘beary’ popular cheerleader.”

Chie groaned loudly. “Are you seriously suggesting we all go to Rise’s party?”

Souji shrugged. “Why not? Would you want to do that, Yosuke?” 

“Oh, um, me? I mean, it could be fun…”

“I want to go,” Yukiko decided, clenching her fists in her lap. “Just one normal party, just to see what it’s like, and then I promise I will go back to proudly being my not-normal self.” 

Inspired by her bravery, Yosuke said enthusiastically, “Count me in!” 

“Me too,” Souji said. 

“Us too! Us too!” Teddie yelled. “We can all be normal for one night and one night only! I wonder what  _ that  _ will be like. In any case, I hope there will be lots of cuties and hotties at the party for me to score with!” 

“Inappropriate, Teddie,” Naoto sighed.

Kanji said, “I’ll go for Yukiko’s sake, but tomorrow night it better be back to D&D!” 

“Yes, it's a date,” Yukiko agreed. “Let me just put away the curry and the ice cream, and we can be on our way.” 

Chie said, “Um, I hope by ‘put away the curry,’ you mean ‘throw it in the trash’!”

Yukiko said gloomily, “But the sea cucumber was expensive.”

Chie argued, “No one cares how expensive the ingredients are if it’s inedible!”

Souji reminded them, “It might eat through the trash can.” 

“Yeah, don’t just dump it anywhere,” Yosuke cautioned. “That’s how unwilling superheroes are born. And sometimes supervillains.”

Looking genuinely concerned, Yukiko said, “Then I’ll just leave it in the pot for now. All right, let’s go!”

Chie interjected, “Whoa, you’re not leaving this house looking like that!” 

“Like what?” Yukiko asked, looking down at her white dress and halfway-buttoned baby blue cardigan. “Ah, it’s the buttons, isn’t it? I had a feeling leaving the bottom buttons undone was a bit too informal…” 

“Opposite direction, Yukiko! You’re not going to a high school party dressed like a Sunday school teacher! If we’re doing this, we’ve gotta do it right,” Chie decided, standing and pulling Yukiko up out of her chair. “Take me to your closet.”

“My closet?”

“Uh-oh, Yukiko, it looks like you’ve activated Chie’s makeover mode,” Yosuke explained. “Honestly, it’s best not to resist at this point.”

As Chie dragged her away, Yukiko replied, “Oh, okay! Please help yourselves to the sundae bar!” 

“Where is it, Yukiko?! Where’s your closet?” Chie yelled, slamming the front door behind them.

Yosuke shook his head. “That poor girl has no idea what’s about to hit her.”

“I’m a fan of Chie’s work though,” Souji said, looking to Yosuke. “I think it’ll turn out well.” 

Before Yosuke had a chance to become thoroughly embarrassed by that, a voice from behind him asked, “Y’all want sundaes?” 

“Gah!” Yosuke yelped, nearly bolting out of his chair. “Kanji! Did not know you were  _ right there.” _

“I would love one,” Souji said, unfazed. 

“Comin’ right up, Seta. And you? You want one or not?” Kanji asked Yosuke directly, and from the scary look on his face, Yosuke figured it would be a mistake to say no. 

“I, uh, would love one too. It’s very kind of you to offer, thank you.” 

“Welcome,” Kanji said gruffly, heading inside. “Beats tryin’ to open that damn keg.” 

Teddie and Naoto followed after him, and Yosuke stood up to follow as well. 

“Hey,” Souji said, touching Yosuke’s elbow. “That was really nice, what you said to Yukiko, about normal being overrated.” 

“Oh, well, I mean, the person who said it to me was Chie, so…” 

“You give Chie a lot of credit.” 

“But she deserves it.” 

“She does. But so do you,” Souji said. “I wish someone had given me that advice a long time ago.” 

“You do? I mean, I wish I had been there, a long time ago, you know, to give that advice to you.” Yosuke cringed, wondering when he was going to stop saying such odd things around Souji. 

“I appreciate it,” Souji replied. “I wish you had been there too.” 

“Let’s um, let’s go get that ice cream,” Yosuke said, anxiously darting toward the door. “Heh, I didn’t even eat that curry and I need a palate cleanser.” 

“Yeah, I can still taste it,” Souji agreed, pulling the door open for Yosuke. 

It was not lost on Yosuke how thoroughly Souji checked him out as he went through the doorway.

“The audacity,” Yosuke laughed under his breath, but he was sure to let Souji go up the stairs in front of him so he could return the favor. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had a whole other outfit planned for Souji, but then I was like, 'Wait, if Yosuke's outfit is inspired by Jiraiya, then Souji's should be inspired by Izanagi! DUH.' Dressing these kids is hard work, man. 
> 
> In the movie, Yukiko's character is a dude named Garver, and he cooks a pot of beef chili for everyone. Charlie (Souji) eats it and says, "That's top-shelf, buddy. That's fresh." And then he makes a face at Katie (Yosuke) because it's actually gross. XD


	19. The Rainbow Spectrum

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I never learned to type ‘properly,’ and I _have_ to look at the keyboard when I type. Exhibit A, from when I was writing this chapter and my cat got between me and my keyboard: “They bickered a bit as they approached Rise’s front door, leaving Yosuke smf zdDOuji up hfaouysyr nack ypeayf each oydf” 
> 
> ฅ^•ﻌ•^ฅ ❤

Souji was leading the group toward Rise’s house, and Chie was beside him talking in hushed tones, which Yosuke found extremely suspicious. It started to sprinkle as they made their way up the street, which was lined with parked cars on both sides, many of them with Yasogami High parking decals on their windshields. Yukiko had just fallen into step beside Yosuke, while the other three lagged behind, struggling to carry the keg. Kanji was able to carry it on his own, but Teddie kept trying to ‘help’ and Naoto had to keep him under control, making the whole thing way more of a struggle than it needed to be. 

“Teddie, please calm down,” Naoto asked for the fourth time. 

“I shoulda never made him that sundae,” Kanji said. “He can’t handle sugar for shit.” 

“But it was soooo delicious, Kanji!” Teddie exclaimed. “Maybe it’s because it was made with your beefy muscles!” he said, taking a big handful of Kanji’s bicep and squeezing. 

Kanji flinched away violently, nearly dropping the keg. “H-hey! What the hell?! I’m tryin' to carry this shit, don’t freakin’ touch me!” 

“Don’t touch him, Teddie,” Naoto said, wedging herself between Teddie and Kanji. 

“But his muscles are so big and manly!” 

Yosuke looked at Yukiko and asked good-naturedly, “Heh, are they always like this?” 

“Not at all,” Yukiko replied with a doting smile. “They’re usually much worse.” 

They both laughed, which made Souji quickly look back at Yosuke, but Chie quickly reclaimed his attention. 

Now that he had Yukiko to himself for a second, Yosuke took the opportunity to say, “Hey, you look really nice. Chie did a great job. I mean, it couldn’t have been too hard to make you over since you’re so beautiful already, but she really played up your features.” 

Chie had put Yukiko in a red cocktail-type dress with a flared skirt and a cute combination of cold-shoulder plus spaghetti straps. It was relatively simple but looked perfect with Yukiko’s fair skin and black hair, which Chie had done half-up in a braid crown, with the down half curled in big, loose waves. 

“Are you gay?” Yukiko asked, and Yosuke actually recoiled at the abrupt, seemingly unrelated question. 

“Um, wh-why do you ask?” Yosuke stuttered, feeling his body temperature rise at the sheer awkwardness of the situation.

“Oh, I didn’t mean to put you on the spot,” Yukiko said innocuously. “I just wanted to make sure you weren’t hitting on me.” 

“Nope! I was not. Not in the slightest. Just a regular ole compliment with no hetero agenda!” Yosuke laughed nervously.

“I figured you were gay from the way you’ve been looking at Souji. Not that you couldn’t be bi, of course, but I was just picking up on a particular vibe from you.” 

“I’m that obvious, huh?” Yosuke asked, slumping forward defeatedly. 

“Perhaps it’s better to be obvious…” Yukiko trailed off thoughtfully. “Don’t worry, by the way. My friends and I are all somewhere or other on the rainbow spectrum.” 

“Oh, really? All of you?” Yosuke asked, glancing back at Kanji, Teddie, and Naoto. 

“Yep. Though I think a lot of people, maybe even most people, are actually on the spectrum, but they either don’t know it or don’t want to admit it.” 

Feeling more relaxed now that she had said that, Yosuke said, “You know, you’re pretty cool, Yukiko.” 

Gazing forward toward Chie, Yukiko said, “If only more people thought that.”

Yosuke looked between the two of them several times as the mental pieces of the puzzle flew together at light speed. 

“Oh,” Yosuke said shortly. “Um, if you don’t mind me asking, Yukiko, where exactly are you on the ‘rainbow spectrum’?” 

“Lesbian,” she declared, not taking her eyes off Chie. 

Yosuke held in a laugh as a big, goofy grin spread across his face. This was perhaps the funniest and most adorable situation he had personally ever witnessed. 

“Well, I totally support you!”

“You do?” Yukiko asked, turning to look at him with wide, surprised eyes. 

“Whole-heartedly,” he said, literally feeling warmth spreading through his chest. “Godspeed, queen.” 

Yukiko looked touched and reached out to delicately grasp Yosuke’s hand. 

“Thank you, Yosuke. It makes sense that Chie’s best friend would be a lovely person like you.”

This was not how he had expected this conversation to go at all, but he squeezed her hand back, thoroughly charmed. He decided then if Chie didn’t like this sweet, beautiful, blunt girl, he would  _ make _ her like her. 

“What are you two doing?” Chie suddenly asked over her shoulder, frowning as she looked down at their joined hands. 

Souji looked back and gave a slight frown as well, which Yosuke highly suspected was a sign of jealousy. 

Clasping Yosuke’s hand in both of hers, Yukiko reported cheerfully, “Just discussing how queer we are.” 

Souji’s mouth quickly transformed from jealous little frown to amused little smirk, and Yosuke’s stomach flip-flopped right along with it.

Looking back to Yukiko, Yosuke asked rhetorically, “You really don’t pull your punches sometimes, huh?” 

Chie scowled but didn’t press for either of them to explain themselves. “Well, just keep that kind of talk on the DL at the party, okay?” 

“Yes, Boss!” 

“Can it with that ‘Boss’ stuff already! And let go of Yosuke’s hand!” 

Yukiko released Yosuke’s hand and crossed her arms. “I know he’s  _ your _ Yosuke Hanamura, Boss, but there’s no need to be so possessive.” 

They bickered a bit as they climbed the porch steps and approached Rise’s front door (though Yukiko seemed to be taking it far less seriously than Chie), leaving Yosuke and Souji to gravitate back toward each other. 

“You ready?” Souji asked as Yosuke stared blankly at the ornate door in front of him. 

Yosuke nodded weakly, having forgotten during his eventful conversation with Yukiko that he was about to go into uncharted territory. Now that he could hear bass thumping and the loud hum of a lot of people’s voices talking all at once on the other side of the door, he remembered to be intimidated. 

“I’m good,” he said, trying to assure himself as much as Souji. 

The rain started to fall harder and the wind picked up, blowing the rain sideways, so all seven of them huddled close together on the narrow portion of the porch directly in front of the door. 

Souji stepped forward and rang the doorbell, and after a moment of waiting, the door swung open, revealing a very pretty girl with auburn hair pulled back into a high ponytail. She was wearing a little black dress and very tall, strappy heels, and overall she was just very well put-together, very much reminding Yosuke of the girls on YouTube who did makeup tutorials. 

“Souji!” she exclaimed, placing a hand on her hip and leaning against the door like she was posing for a picture. 

“Hey,” Souji greeted with his usual pleasantness, but Yosuke noticed that his smile was strained; it didn’t look anything like the smiles he gave Yosuke. 

Rise, however, seemed genuinely delighted to see him. “I was wondering where you were! Now the party can  _ really _ get started.” 

Souji looked embarrassed by that, but Yosuke didn’t know why. 

“But, um, who are these people?” Rise asked, and when Yosuke looked back at her, she was looking directly at him. Something about her stare made him wither a bit, until she looked away to the rest of their group. 

It made sense that she didn’t know Yosuke, but the rest of them had gone to Yasogami with her. Even if this girl was super popular, Yosuke thought it was a little harsh for her to refer to anyone outside her circle like some sort of separate entity, especially when they were standing right there. 

“These are my friends,” Souji stated firmly, and Yosuke saw Chie shoot Rise one of her infamous shit-eating grins. “They brought you a keg,” he added, and Yosuke stepped aside so Rise could see the rest of the group toting the keg behind them. 

Rise’s smile slipped from her face as she looked at all of them appraisingly. 

When Rise took too long to say something, Souji looked up toward the sky to hint at the steadily increasing rainfall and then asked, “Um, can we come in?” 

Rise collected herself and put on another smile, and Yosuke could tell this one was fake. 

“Of course. Come on in,” she said, her former enthusiasm severely dampened as she stepped out of the way. 

Souji fell back to let everyone else through first, saying a quiet “thank you” to Rise as she closed the door behind him. 

Yosuke’s senses were bombarded immediately, and he instinctively stepped closer to Chie. The intense, poppy music was on full blast over the speakers, and colored lights were flashing and spinning in all directions, and everywhere Yosuke looked there were people squeezed together, dancing and drinking and kissing and… 

“Hey, everyone!” Rise called out. “Souji’s here!” 

“Souji!” a bunch of people yelled out over the music, along with other incoherent roars of approval. It reminded Yosuke of when Souji had walked at graduation, except way more chaotic and overwhelming and _ in-person.  _

Some guy bounded forward to give Souji an enthusiastic bro hug, nearly knocking Yosuke out of the way. 

Just as everything in Yosuke’s vision was starting to blur together, he felt a warm hand come to rest on the small of his back.

“Are you okay?” Souji asked, and as soon as Yosuke zeroed in on his concerned face, reality snapped back to being clear again. 

“Yeah,” Yosuke said faintly as his brain tried to catch up with the very tender and protective way Souji was currently touching him. 

“Yeah, I’m gonna go take a lap upstairs,” Chie said casually, as if it was totally normal for her to leave Yosuke’s side. “Y’know, away from you two.” 

“What? Wait!” Yosuke objected, but she was already snaking through the crowd toward the staircase.

“She warned me she was going to do that,” Souji said, watching her go and subtly pulling his hand away from Yosuke’s back. 

“She did? Is that what you two were talking about outside?” 

“Yeah. She really seems to enjoy scheming to push us together.” 

“From both sides, apparently!” Yosuke complained, adding that to his list of betrayals to be addressed at a later date. 

“She seems to care about you a lot.”

“Yeah, she does,” Yosuke grumbled, knowing she was doing it for his and Souji’s sake but still not about to forgive her swift abandonment that quickly. 

“She told me to watch out for you since you’ve never been to a big party like this.” 

“I mean, you don’t have to babysit me or anything!” Yosuke said, looking around the crowd of unfamiliar faces and involuntarily inching closer to Souji. “But, uh, yeah, please don’t leave me.” 

“I won’t,” Souji assured him with a warm smile. “I promise.” 

“Okay, good,” Yosuke breathed, very comforted to know that Souji would be staying by his side. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yukiko’s dress is literally the one Olivia Rodrigo wore in HSMTMTS. And now I can stop playing dress-up lmao. *collapses*


	20. Such Sudden Severity

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: I can totally cover this party in a chapter or two  
> Me, later: I cannot cover this party in a chapter or two

“He’s back!” Daisuke yelled as soon as he spotted Souji, throwing an arm around his shoulders. 

“Souji! You made it!” Kou yelled from beside him, looking just as surprised as he was excited. 

Souji grasped Daisuke’s forearm in greeting but was surprised when he felt the arm around his shoulders go slack. 

“Whoa. Who is this?” Daisuke asked, staring at Yosuke. Kou was also staring, not subtle at all as he gaped like a fish. 

“Daisuke, Kou, this is Yosuke,” Souji introduced as Daisuke’s arm slowly slid off his shoulders. 

“Um, hi,” Yosuke said shortly with a shy smile. 

While Souji didn’t want Yosuke to feel nervous, he was a little jealous that Yosuke didn’t immediately try to run away from Daisuke and Kou like he had with Souji. 

“Hey, Yosuke!” Daisuke greeted happily.

Now Kou was the one throwing his arm around Daisuke’s shoulders as he said, “Yosuke. _You_ are our hero.” 

Yosuke looked like he didn’t know how to respond to that, but Souji sighed, knowing exactly where Kou was going with this. 

Kou continued, “You got _Souji_ to come to a party!”

“And make a smile-like feature with his face!” Daisuke added. 

Kou nodded. “Our boy hasn’t looked this good in a _long_ time.” 

“Well thank you,” Souji said, rolling his eyes but also laughing a little, knowing that his friends were probably right—Yosuke just had that effect on him. 

“There you are!” Rise’s voice rang out as she approached the four of them. 

Souji’s stomach twisted as Rise _very_ obviously looked Yosuke up and down again before turning to speak to him. 

“I’m still thirsty,” she said with a plastered-on smile that honestly made Souji feel sorry for her. She was referencing their last conversation at the big beach bash—she must not have noticed how well that conversation didn’t go. “Wanna get me that drink now?” 

Souji felt his heart skip a beat when he realized what Rise was trying to do. Not only was she doing her normal (obnoxious, unwanted) flirting, but she was trying to one-up and dismiss Yosuke right in front of his face by not acknowledging him and then taking Souji away. 

Maybe Souji hadn’t been able to stick up for himself for all these years, but there was no way in hell he was going to let Yosuke be treated like that, not by Rise Kujikawa or anyone else. 

“No,” Souji said quietly, but it felt like the single word sent a shockwave through Souji's body and through everyone else standing there. “I was actually about to take Yosuke on the house party tour,” he said, slipping his hand into Yosuke’s as he stared straight at Rise. 

Rise looked pissed but didn’t say anything, and Yosuke looked completely bewildered (Souji would have to apologize later). Meanwhile Kou and Daisuke held onto each other, looking confused but also excited, as if they were waiting for the bell to ring on a highly-anticipated main event wrestling match. 

“You ready?” Souji asked as he broke eye contact with Rise and started to pull Yosuke away. “We’ll be right back,” Souji told Daisuke and Kou specifically. 

“N-nice meeting you guys,” Yosuke said, also only addressing those two, which Souji appreciated. 

“You too, Yosuke,” Daisuke said, waving after them. 

“We’ll see you later, Yosuke!” Kou said, barely holding in a laugh. 

When the two of them turned back to Rise, she was _seething_ and had both fists clenched at her sides. 

Kou quickly offered, _“I_ can quench your thirst.” 

“Shut up!” Rise snapped, looking disgusted, which only made it harder for the boys to hold in their laughter. 

She spun around and stomped away in her heels, yelling, “Ai! Yumi! Where are you bitches?!” 

Daisuke and Kou finally broke out into peals of laughter, clutching each other’s shirts for stability. 

“Dude, that was epic!” Kou proclaimed, close to tears. 

“I never thought Souji would actually stand up to her!” Daisuke agreed. “But hey, what was up with him and that Yosuke guy?” 

“Do you think Souji was, y’know, _with_ him?” Kou asked. 

“He _was_ holding his hand…”

“Right? Like, full finger-lacing and everything! It’s like Souji was showing him off in front of Rise or something,” Kou puzzled aloud. “Wait, do you think _that’s_ why he never dated Rise?” 

“Or any of the other girls who threw themselves at him…” Daisuke trailed off, rifling back through all his memories of Souji’s romantic misadventures, none of which Souji ever seemed to actually want to be a part of. 

Kou finally concluded, “Honestly, that explains a lot.”

On the same page, Daisuke said, “Yeah, a lot of things about him make more sense now.” 

“It’s funny, how you can know someone for so long and not even realize they swing a certain way…”

“Yeah…”

That’s when they both realized they were still holding onto each other, and once they made eye contact again, they screamed and jumped away from each other. 

“Hello,” Yukiko said, standing right in front of them and staring them down with owl-like intensity. 

They both screamed again, barely restraining themselves from grabbing onto each other in fear. 

“How long have you been standing there?!” Kou asked, compulsively straightening out his shirt way more times than was necessary. 

“Oh, long enough,” Yukiko said with the smallest hint of a smile. 

Daisuke asked with a gulp, “C-can we help you?”

“Perhaps,” Yukiko replied with a nod, looking to Kou. “I overheard that you may have some expertise in the area of quenching thirst?” 

“Oh, you did? I mean, yes! I do!” Kou exclaimed, standing up straighter at this unexpectedly bold approach from the typically reserved Yukiko Amagi, who he, for some reason, had never noticed was quite attractive until now.

“Perfect,” Yukiko said with a smile before gesturing toward the kitchen. “My friends and I brought a keg, but we’ve had some trouble actually extracting the beer from said keg. Do you know where we might be able to find a ‘tap’? And how to operate said tap?” 

“You meant… _literally?”_ Kou asked, swiftly deflating as Daisuke snorted and elbowed him in the ribs. 

“Hey, Amagi,” Daisuke said, giving Kou a moment to recover. “We’ve never seen you at a party before.” 

“Souji invited me, and my friends.” 

“He’s really branching out, huh?” Daisuke asked. “Good for him!” 

“We’ve never seen you with your hair down, either,” Kou remarked. “You always had it tied back in school.” 

“That was for practical reasons. Have either of you read _A Series of Unfortunate Events?”_

Daisuke asked, “You mean the newspaper?” 

Yukiko shook her head. “It’s a series of children’s novels in which three clever orphans are faced time and time again with, unsurprisingly, unfortunate events.” 

“Oh. No, we have not read that,” Kou said, not remembering the last time he or Daisuke read a book. 

“Well, one of the main characters, Violet, always would tie her hair up when she really needed to think. And in school, you’re always supposed to be thinking, so I would always keep my hair tied up,” Yukiko explained. “It’s truly a delightful set of books; you two should read them when you have a chance.” 

Frowning, Daisuke summarized, “You’re saying the books about bad things happening to orphans are… _delightful?”_

“Quite,” Yukiko said to both flabbergasted boys. “I have all thirteen books in the series if you’d like to borrow them.”

“Thanks? In any case…” Kou started hesitantly, attempting to bring the conversation back around. “Your hair looks great down. _You_ look great.” 

“Are you hitting on me?” Yukiko asked with such sudden severity that Kou almost jumped into Daisuke’s arms (again). 

“N-no?” Kou whimpered, feeling like that was the correct answer. 

Thankfully, the fire in Yukiko’s eyes died down at that response. “Good. Now, can you assist me with the keg or not?” 

“Yeah, sure,” Kou said weakly, fanning his shirt to stave off the layer of cold sweat underneath it. 

“Excellent,” Yukiko said, clasping her hands together innocently. “This way, then.” 

Kou groaned as he followed her to the kitchen and Daisuke slapped him on the back. 

“Nice one, man,” Daisuke teased. “You really poured on the charm there. Now you finally get to quench a girl’s thirst!” 

“At least I get beer out of it,” Kou sighed, not sure how everything went so wrong so fast. 

“That’s the spirit, bud,” Daisuke laughed, squeezing Kou’s shoulder. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Every time I put my hair up to help me focus, I think of Violet Baudelaire. XD


	21. Playing Games

Yosuke had initially been surprised by how good he was at drinking games, though years of staying in his room and mastering a ton of hobbies that improved his hand-eye coordination (guitar, keyboard, video games, juggling, cup stacking, yo-yoing, doodling, coloring, model-building, origami, close-up magic…) had probably helped. 

Souji refused to participate, instead opting to cheer for Yosuke and the others, and to hover near Yosuke with a plastic water bottle so he could make sure he hydrated between rounds. 

Yosuke was especially good at beer pong (he’d spent many hours tossing paper balls into his wastebasket), as was his partner, Kou. Yosuke was originally going to team up with Teddie to play against Daisuke and Kou, but Souji had intervened, making sure Kou was paired with Yosuke. Yosuke didn’t realize why Souji had seemed so adamant until later when he found out that Kou was a basketball player—the best at Yasogami High. 

Daisuke and Teddie ended up getting along incredibly well though; it was hard for Yosuke to imagine they had been in completely different social groups in school. At one point Teddie made a critical shot for their team, and then Daisuke was throwing his arms around Teddie and lifting him off the ground in celebration. 

It wasn’t just Daisuke; a lot of people had taken to Teddie at this party so far, as well as Yukiko, who was also surprisingly good at drinking games. Teddie soaked in all the attention, while Yukiko didn’t seem to notice it—especially all the attention she was getting from the guys—which was probably for the better. 

Yosuke hadn’t seen too much of Kanji and Naoto, though he had overheard that some drunk guy had mistaken Kanji for the party’s bouncer, and then Naoto had thrown the guy out. 

After one final victorious round of beer pong, Yosuke looked around, trying to spot Chie, who had come and gone while he was playing different games. 

“Have you seen Chie lately?” Yosuke asked Souji, who was dutifully handing him a new bottle of water. 

“Not lately,” Souji said as Yosuke uncapped the bottle and started drinking. “I haven’t seen her since I saw Yukiko doing a shot off her stomach on the kitchen counter.” 

Yosuke nearly spit out his water. 

Once he choked the water down, he gasped, “Doing what?!” 

“I saw them when I went to go grab you snacks. There were a few guys in line to do shots off of Chie, but then Yukiko pushed past all of them and did one herself.” 

Suddenly Yukiko’s words from earlier replayed in Yosuke’s head: _ “Perhaps it’s better to be obvious…” _

“Godspeed, queen,” he repeated faintly, blown away by her courage. 

Suddenly Souji stepped in front of Yosuke for no apparent reason, facing him with a blush on his cheeks and a shifty look in his eyes. 

“What are you doing?” Yosuke asked curiously, peering around Souji. 

Souji sighed. “Those girls were checking you out.” 

“They were?” Yosuke asked, popping back out of view of the girls. 

“A  _ lot _ of girls have been checking you out. You didn’t notice?” 

Yosuke shook his head. “I thought they were looking at you. Are you sure?”

“I’m sure.” 

Yosuke asked with a smirk, “And you don’t like it?”

“I do not,” Souji confirmed, shooting a mildly scathing look over his shoulder, which made the girls giggle and look away. 

“Interesting,” Yosuke assessed, taking another sip of water so he wouldn’t laugh right in Souji’s face. 

It was his first time drinking alcohol, but thanks to Souji’s water regimen, he’d barely experienced any effects aside from some persistent warmth in his cheeks and a few extra bursts of laughter. 

Though maybe his inhibitions were a  _ little _ lower, as he currently wanted to touch Souji’s cute, jealous face and burrow into his cute, jealous chest, right then and there. 

“Snacks,” Yosuke decided, shaking his head to clear those thoughts. “Let’s go get more snacks.” 

* * *

Yukiko was full of drinks and empty on inhibitions, and she was  _ going _ to ask Chie to dance… as soon as she found her. 

Yukiko weaved through the crowd, searching for the object of her affections. Chie wasn’t in the main entryway or the dining room, where most of the dancing was taking place. The kitchen was less crowded, and that’s when Yukiko saw her… 

Chie was standing over Yukiko’s keg, pouring herself a drink and rhythmically bobbing along to the music blaring from the speakers. Like usual, she was gorgeous—both tough and soft, completely at ease in her own skin, like nothing in the world could shake her. She looked like a million bajillion bucks, like a single spotlight should have spawned from the ceiling and shone down on her.

Yukiko nodded in determination and started walking straight at Chie, but then three bodies slid into her view and blocked the path to her dream girl (a sin she would not soon forgive). 

“Excuse me,” she said, trying to go around them, but they didn’t budge. 

“You’re excused,” an overly sweet voice said, and Yukiko looked up to see that it was Rise Kujikawa, backed by the two other members of her posse, Ai Ebihara and Yumi Ozawa. 

“I was just trying to get to the kitchen,” Yukiko said, looking around Rise to see if Chie was still by the keg, but then Rise stepped right back in her way. 

“Are you enjoying the party, Yukiko?” Rise asked, clearly wanting something and not about to back down until she got it. 

“I am, thank you,” Yukiko answered, scoffing internally at Rise’s faux-friendly gimmick, which was and always had been, in her humble opinion, a stupid fucking waste of time. 

Yukiko had never cared much for Rise, and Rise's little theatrics when she’d answered the door earlier hadn’t done anything to help that. In school Rise was a total bitch but was somehow constantly rewarded for it, making her the most popular girl at Yasogami. Not that Yukiko cared about popularity, but if someone was going to be liked by everyone, she thought it should have been someone kind and genuine, or someone  _ actually _ cool, like that funky guy with the afro who liked to tell fun riddles in the hallway. Chie especially didn’t like Rise and had been very vocal with Yukiko about it at work, which had only cemented Yukiko’s dislike. Plus, Yukiko had never liked how Rise treated her so-called friends, especially Souji, who Yukiko had always seen as a very sweet pushover, a.k.a. the perfect victim for Rise’s specific brand of bullshit. 

“Glad to hear it,” Rise said flatly, apparently about to get to her point. “You showed up with that Yosuke guy, right? What can you tell me about him?”

Keeping a neutral expression for now, Yukiko answered, “Well, I just met him tonight, so the most I can tell you is that he seems like a very nice person. If you’d like to get to know him, you should go talk to him yourself.” 

“I would, but he’s been so preoccupied with Souji, I haven’t had a chance,” Rise said tightly, which made Ai and Yumi cast concerned glances at each other behind Rise’s back. “Would you happen to know anything about  _ that?” _

Yukiko didn’t appreciate Rise’s attempt to bait her, and she really just wanted to get to Chie at this point, so she decided to go right for the throat. 

“Not much,” she said with her brightest customer service smile. “Only that Souji seems to be enjoying spending time with Yosuke much more than he ever did with you.”

Rise’s eyes flashed with anger, but she quickly regathered her composure, speaking in an artificially lilting tone, “You know, Yukiko, you’ve always had such a pretty face. I have always thought, with a little help, you could have been the Cady Heron to my Regina George. But you were always so loyal to your little group of outcasts. How was it, being the queen of the island of misfit toys? It must have been so nice up on that high horse of yours. You liked to act like you were invisible in school, which made you untouchable, right? But _ I _ saw you, looking down at the rest of us, like you were better than us because you refused to fit in. But at the end of the day, that doesn’t make you better than me; it just makes you alone, and pathetic. Because when you go off to university and your band of underclassmen nerds is still at Yasogami High, you’re going to be all by yourself again, just like you were freshman year, eating lunch in the corner of the library by yourself.”

Yukiko stood her ground, but that had definitely hit a sore spot for her. Before Naoto, Kanji, and Teddie showed up, life at Yasogami had been incredibly lonely. 

Still, if Rise wanted to play with fire, Yukiko had no problem incinerating her.

“You want to talk about being alone, Rise? You have a house full of people here, and yet not a single one of them actually likes you. Your two ‘best friends’ there? They’re constantly talking about you behind your back. Literally, they just stopped because I said something, but they were  _ literally _ just talking behind your back.” 

Rise turned to shoot a glare at each of them, but both refused to look her in the eye. 

Yukiko continued, “They feel like they _have_ to be around you, but they don’t _want_ to be around you. And the one boy who felt he _had_ to be around you decided to stop playing your game, because even though he’s the nicest guy in the world, he still can’t stomach your bullshit anymore. Because you’re a _stupid fucking bitch.”_

All three girls gaped at Yukiko;  _ no one _ had ever called Rise out to her face like that, especially not the likes of dorky little valedictorian Yukiko Amagi. 

Taking advantage of the stunned silence to wrap things up, Yukiko said, “And when this party is over, you’ll be alone again. Except… you’ve always been alone, haven’t you?  _ Right now, _ you’re alone. Everyone wants something from you, but no one wants  _ you.  _ And  _ that _ is truly pathetic.”

Rise’s jaw was clenched, and her entire face was red.

“You don’t know anything, you loser!” she finally shrieked, but the way her voice cracked kind of deadened the impact. “Just… get the hell out of my house!” 

Yukiko replied calmly, “If you would finally get the hell out of my  _ way, _ I’d be glad to go gather my things.” 

Rise glowered at Yukiko with murder in her eyes, unable to stomp away immediately because that would be like admitting defeat. 

“I’m going upstairs to make sure no one is destroying my parents’ shit. Don’t be here when I come back,” Rise hissed, like it had been her idea to leave all along. Then she turned and started to strut away, only pausing briefly to say over her shoulder, “Oh, and you don’t look good in red.” 

Yukiko had half a mind to go punch Rise right in the lipgloss, but she held back, knowing she had ultimately won and could lay her metaphorical weapons down. 

When Ai and Yumi started to scurry after Rise, she yelled,  _ “Don’t _ follow me, you  _ bitches!”  _

The two of them halted and looked a little lost for a second before Yumi said to Ai, “If Rise is Regina George, are we supposed to be Gretchen Wieners and Karen Smith?”

Crossing her arms, Ai replied, “You’re Karen. Because you’re the stupid one.” 

“And  _ you _ should be Gretchen, because no one loves you,” Yumi shot back. “The only dicks you’re getting are in your last name! None for Gretchen Wieners!”

“I’ll  _ kill _ you, bitch!” 

As they started to tussle, Yukiko stepped around them, putting all of that moronic nonsense behind her (literally). 

And the view she was rewarded with on the other side was a beautifully wide-eyed, shell-shocked Chie. She was still standing by the keg, but now her red plastic cup was on the floor as its spilled contents pooled around the soles of her shoes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me, planning the chapter: lol I’m gonna throw in a few Mean Girls references, it’ll be a fun time  
> Me, writing the chapter: well that escalated quickly


	22. Fight, Flight, Freeze

“Are you _sure_ you’re okay?” Chie asked, having pulled Yukiko farther into the kitchen, away from Rise’s cronies and anyone else who might have witnessed the showdown. 

Yukiko assured her again, “I’m perfectly fine, Chie.”

“I just wanna make sure! Rise said some pretty harsh shit out there. Well, not as harsh as what _you_ said to _her,_ but…” Chie said, swaying a bit on her feet. “Damn, Yukiko, you really smacked her down! That was freakin' badass!” 

Covering her mouth with her hand, Yukiko asked, “You think so?”

“Don’t play all innocent now!” Chie laughed, pushing Yukiko’s hand down away from her face. “You, Yukiko Amagi, _destroyed_ Rise Kujikawa. It was seriously one of the best things I’ve ever seen in my life!” 

“I’m glad you think so,” Yukiko said with a fond smile at Chie’s enthusiasm. 

“And y’know what else?” Chie slurred, leaning against the kitchen island for stability. _“Forget_ all that shit she said, okay? LIke, did she even _see_ that movie? Regina George gets hit by a _bus!”_

“Oh my. I haven’t seen the movie myself, but now I think I’d like to.” 

“Don’t worry, I have it, we’ll watch it,” Chie quickly said, waving her hand dismissively. “And that shit she said about you being alone—that’s not gonna happen, because like, your friends love you! Even if you’re apart for a while, they’re still gonna be with you, y’know?”

Yukiko tilted her head. “In my heart?” 

“Well yeah, but also like, in your DMs! Teddie has a phone after all, and if you think he’s not gonna be up your ass all the time just because you’re at college, then you’ve got another thing coming!” 

Yukiko chuckled. “I suppose you’re right.”

“And another thing she was wrong about—”

“It’s okay, Chie, you don’t have to keep—” 

“You _do_ look good in red!” Chie declared, clenching her fists. “You look _great_ in red! That’s why I picked it!” 

A new wave of warmth shot into Yukiko’s cheeks. “Chie… are you drunk?” 

“Psh, no way!” Chie insisted, shaking her head fervently. “I’m buzzed, at most. And the _only_ thing Rise was right about was your _face!”_

“My face?” 

Chie exclaimed, “You’ve always had a pretty face!” 

“Um, Chie? Wha—”

“You’re the _prettiest_ girl I’ve ever _seen!”_ Chie interrupted, but then she suddenly looked down in shame. “A-and I should have sat with you at lunch when we were freshmen, but I was too stubborn and proud and hellbent on being a loner, and _fuck_ Rise Kujikawa, and what you did back there was so _cool_ and _badass,_ I mean, when you were really telling her off, I’ve never felt so much secondhand fear but also vindication but also admiration, all at once?! Seriously, that was so awesome! You’re so _awesome!”_

Yukiko breathed, “This is the best night of my life.” 

“And it’s about to get a whole lot better!” Chie decided with a scary glint in her eyes, grabbing Yukiko’s wrist and pulling her through the kitchen.

“It is?” Yukiko asked, surprised at the sudden turn of events. “Are we going to dance?” 

“Nope!” Chie answered. “You’ll see.” 

It was a cryptic answer, but Yukiko was intrigued, ready to go along with whatever Chie had up her sleeve. 

* * *

Yosuke crinkled his empty plastic cup and leaned on the door frame between the dining room and the kitchen, watching people dance. 

“This is interesting,” Yosuke said, feeling like he was a scientist observing the behaviors of animals in a zoo. “I’ve only seen this in the movies.” 

Seemingly content to only observe Yosuke, Souji said from beside him, “Yeah, it’s a pretty classic high school party.”

Yosuke chuckled. “It’s awkward.”

“Super awkward,” Souji said, nodding in agreement. “Do you like to dance?” 

“Hm, I like _So You Think You Can Dance.”_

“That’s a good show.” 

“You like it too? Well, don’t tell anyone I said this…” Yosuke said, lowering his voice so only Souji could hear, “…but I don’t think any of these people can dance.” 

“Yeah, I don’t think any of _this_ qualifies as actual dancing. It’s mostly just an excuse to…” Souji paused, searching for a nice way to put it. 

“Touch each other?” 

“Yeah, that.”

“And how about you, Mr. Seta?” Yosuke inquired, turning to focus on Souji. “Do you dance?” 

“Not if I can help it,” Souji said expressionlessly. “Not in public, anyways.” 

“In private, then?” 

“I may have a move or two up my sleeve.” 

“Do you?” Yosuke asked, amused as he tried to imagine Souji busting a move. “I would love to see that.” 

“Well,” Souji started, leaning toward Yosuke as if to share the most private of secrets, “back in the day, I was quite the connoisseur of Dance Dance Revolution.” 

Yosuke laughed out loud. “Unfortunately, I don’t think that qualifies as ‘actual dancing’ either. I would know, because I loved DDR.” 

“Did you?” Souji asked with a smile. “I still have my dance pad.”

“So do I!”

“You know what we should do…” 

“Dust off our dance pads and have a DDR party?” 

“Exactly,” Souji said happily. “But in the meantime…” he said, stepping in front of Yosuke and extending his open palm to him. 

Yosuke raised his eyebrows, looking down at Souji’s hand. “I thought you didn’t dance in public if you could help it?”

“Then I guess I can’t help it,” Souji said, making Yosuke’s heart liquify into a pool of hot lava. 

“Well, how can I say no to that?” Yosuke said, setting his cup down and then placing his hand in Souji’s. 

Souji smiled as he pulled Yosuke onto the makeshift dance floor, perhaps the most dazzling smile Yosuke had seen on him so far. 

Once they were in place, Yosuke started to reach out to place his free hand on Souji, but he hesitated since this was more than he’d ever touched Souji before. 

“It’s okay,” Souji encouraged, and Yosuke nodded, planting his hand decidedly on Souji’s waist. 

“Ha, this is…” Yosuke trailed off nervously, looking into Souji’s eyes because looking anywhere else might be even more awkward. 

“I like it,” Souji said, laying his arm on top of Yosuke’s and grasping his waist as well. 

Yosuke blew out a long breath, trying not to squirm. Souji’s hands were so warm and inviting and _nice,_ but they also made Yosuke want to run for the hills (which he was beginning to notice was a pretty common response for him). 

“What do we do now?” he asked, never having danced with a partner like this. 

“We can start with swaying awkwardly,” Souji said, just barely moving side to side and coaxing Yosuke to do the same. 

“Oh, awkwardly? I can do that!” Yosuke said, mimicking Souji’s movements. 

“Perfect,” Souji laughed. “And then I can give you a little twirl,” he said, releasing Yosuke’s waist and twirling him by the hand. 

Yosuke laughed as he spun, enjoying this despite how ridiculous it was, because he was with Souji. 

Once he was facing Souji again, they came back together, and Souji put his hand back on Yosuke’s waist, pulling him a little closer than before. 

Yosuke hesitated with his free hand again, prompting Souji to say, “You don’t have to hold my waist; you can hold my shoulder, or you can—”

Souji was rendered silent when Yosuke chose to hold the side of his face.

Seeming dazed as he ran his fingertips across Souji’s cheek, Yosuke said, “This… probably wasn’t going to be one of the options you gave me, huh?” 

“It’s okay,” Souji whispered, giving in to that magnetism that he always felt around Yosuke and inching closer to him. 

“Um, Souji?” Yosuke rasped, suddenly remembering where he was and letting his hand fall away from Souji’s face. He then backed up a step and subtly looked around them. “I… I think people are watching us.” 

Souji kept his gaze on Yosuke, no longer giving a single fuck about what any of these people thought.

Still, he didn’t want Yosuke to be uncomfortable. 

“Would you like to go someplace else?” he found himself asking, not wanting his time with Yosuke to end. 

Yosuke nodded, squeezing Souji’s hand once before letting it go. 

* * *

Yosuke couldn’t find Chie to tell her he was leaving, so he shot her a text. She didn’t answer though, which was concerning, so he decided he would call her once they got away from all the noise. 

Once he and Souji grabbed their jackets from the kitchen, they realized all the paths to the front door were pretty thoroughly packed with bodies. 

“Here, we can cut through the garage,” Souji said, taking Yosuke’s hand and leading him over to a side door. 

“Is that a car alarm going off?” Yosuke asked, barely able to hear it over all the other noise. 

“Maybe?”

As soon as he opened the door, it was very apparent that it was indeed a car alarm going off, and as they both stepped into the dark garage, a motion-activated overhead light clicked on. 

Both of them winced as the bright light revealed a pink convertible with its top down, and two silhouettes making out in its back seat. 

“Holy shit, let’s get out of here!” Yosuke cried, looking for the nearest exit. 

“Yosuke?!” the person on top screamed, forcefully pushing her partner down into the seat so she couldn’t be seen. “What the hell are you doing out here?!” 

“Chie?!” Yosuke screamed, really starting to panic now. “Agh, I’m sorry! We were just leaving! I’m not looking, I’m sorry! Where’s the button to open the garage door, damn it?!” he cried, flailing about and scouring the walls for a button. 

In contrast, Souji just stood there paralyzed, his face becoming increasingly darker shades of red. 

“Quit staring, you weirdo!” Chie yelled at him, frantically smoothing down her hair and straightening out her clothes. 

Still, Souji couldn’t move. 

Yosuke found a back door that led to the yard, but as luck would have it, the lock was stuck, and he couldn’t pry it open to save his life. 

“Get me out of here!” he wailed, bracing a leg against the wall and tugging at the door handle with both hands. 

The person underneath Chie sat up, and Souji swore, if he was a cat, or a video game character, or a cat who was a video game character, he would have just lost one of his lives. 

“Yukiko?” he said weakly.

“Wait… Yukiko?!” Yosuke yelled, abandoning the door to spin around and look at the other person in the backseat. 

“Hello,” she greeted pleasantly, her lip stain smeared and her formerly perfect hairstyle mussed up into an admirable mess. 

Chie hissed hysterically, “I told you to stay down!” 

“But they need help, Boss.” 

“Don’t freakin’ call me that!” 

Yukiko pushed Chie out of the way a bit and reached over the front seat, pressing a button on the garage door remote attached to the visor. 

“Oh thank Grilled Cheesus,” Yosuke panted as he scrambled toward the slowly-opening garage door. “Sorry again, Chie! Uh, and Yukiko! I’m sorry! We’re sorry!” 

That’s when Yosuke realized Souji was still standing in place, rigid as a board. 

Chie yelled miserably, “Stop apologizing and just leave already!”

Yosuke jogged back to Souji, grabbed his arm, and forcefully pulled him from the garage, knowing time was of the essence if they wanted to evade Chie’s wrath; he wouldn’t be able to spend more time with Souji if they were both dead. 

“Sorry!” Yosuke yelled as they made a break for it. “Get home safe! See you tomorrow for Pride and Prejudice! Congrats, Yukiko! Godspeed, queen!”

“Likewise, king!” Yukiko called after him. 

Chie yelled, “Both of you shut up!”

“Go, Souji, go!” Yosuke huffed, grabbing his hand as they escaped into the night. 

* * *

“Holy shit, that was so embarrassing,” Chie moaned. “Why, of all people, did it have to be _them?_ What am I gonna do?!” 

“Pick up where you left off?” Yukiko suggested, hitting the door button again, killing the car alarm, and delighting in the conflicted look on Chie’s face as the door slowly went back down. 

When the door hit the ground, Yukiko laid back down on the backseat, and Chie said through gritted teeth, “If you tell anyone else about this, I’ll kill you.” 

“Noted,” Yukiko said with a sweet smile, and then Chie was on top of her again. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You’ve all heard of the fight-or-flight response to danger, and then there’s the third fun option of freeze. Yukiko is Fight, Yosuke is Flight, and Souji is Freeze. XD ~~Chie is Danger.~~
> 
> With this chapter, we are officially 30 WHOLE MINUTES into the movie. 😱😂


	23. The Ladder

The rain had stopped at some point in the evening, leaving a sheen behind on the dock that shone softly in the moonlight. 

“I don’t get it,” Yosuke said as he walked beside Souji. “How could they just take away your scholarship?” 

Souji walked slowly down the dock, hands in his pockets and gaze on his feet as he pretended each horizontal piece of wood was a rung on a ladder. A ladder to where, he didn’t know.

“I had to have surgery,” Souji said tentatively, not sure how his conversation with Yosuke had gotten so serious so fast. “They didn’t think I’d ever swim again. Without a scholarship, I couldn’t afford Berkeley, and just like that, it was all over.” 

“That sucks. I’m really sorry,” Yosuke said, sounding sad as he fiddled with the cord of his headphones. “But couldn’t you still go to one of the other schools you applied to?” 

It was an obvious follow-up question, but it made Souji wince every time. “I, uh, didn’t apply to any other schools.” 

“Oh,” Yosuke said shortly, dropping his headphone cord. “You must’ve really had your heart set on Berkeley, huh?” 

Souji nodded, looking up toward the stars. “Ever since I was a kid. My aunt and uncle met there. I’ve always looked up to them. When I was little, they let me come with them to a big alumni event on campus, and I just thought it was the coolest place ever. To a kid like me, their swimming pool seemed so huge, it might as well have been as big as the ocean.” 

Souji expected Yosuke to think that was dumb, but when he looked over, he saw Yosuke had a little smile on his face. 

“That’s really cute,” Yosuke said. 

Souji looked away again and blew out a breath, trying not to get too caught up in how Yosuke was the actual best. 

“So yeah… I didn’t apply anywhere else, even though my parents told me to. For me, it had only ever been Berkeley. I realize that was stupid now. My parents sure won’t let me forget how stupid it was.”

“It’s not stupid,” Yosuke said firmly, surprising Souji once again. “To want something for that long, to hold onto such a big dream, to be single-minded and go after it with all you’ve got until it’s finally within your reach… I think that’s amazing.” 

With his heart in his throat, Souji asked,  _ “Amazing? _ Isn’t that kind of an exaggeration?”

Yosuke shook his head and softly said, “Not at all.”

The gentleness in Yosuke’s voice sent a sudden shiver up Souji’s spine, which Yosuke seemed to notice but was merciful enough to not point out. 

“How’d you do it?” Yosuke asked instead. “How’d you hurt yourself?” 

The question immediately made Souji feel sick to his stomach. This is where he would usually lie to whoever was asking, because the truth was too embarrassing to admit. 

But this was different; he couldn’t just lie to Yosuke, the person who had suddenly showed up out of nowhere and somehow made Souji want to spill his guts like he never had to anyone. This was the person Souji wanted to trust him, and to actually know him, and to accept him. 

It was scary to tell him the truth, and Yosuke would be completely within his rights to think Souji was stupid afterwards, but not telling him the truth—jeopardizing the integrity of the incredibly special and important thing they had together—was even scarier.

“I usually tell people it was a freak accident, that I fell down some stairs, but that’s not true,” Souji said, bracing himself and then looking into Yosuke’s wide, trusting eyes. “I got really drunk one night at Kou’s house, and then everyone dared me to jump off the roof into the pool. When I did, I clipped the edge of the pool with my shoulder. I…” 

Souji paused for a moment to see if Yosuke said anything, if he was going to go ahead and reject him for being such a moron, but Yosuke just stared at him patiently.

And so Souji continued, “I worked so hard for all those years, and then in one night I threw it all away, all because I didn’t know how to say no to people. If someone wanted something from me, I would always just cave. I didn’t even like partying, or drinking, or any of that stuff, but people expected me to, so I pretended I did. I’m such an idiot. That’s not the kind of guy I want to be.”

“Then don’t be,” Yosuke said simply, as if it was that easy. And maybe with him, it  _ could _ be that easy. “It was a small mistake that happened to have big consequences, but it’s not your identity; it doesn’t define who you are.” 

Souji smiled helplessly as he looked down the dock, feeling an overwhelming wave of relief and gratitude. 

From where Souji stood, he still didn’t know where his ladder would lead, but if he was climbing it with Yosuke, for the first time in a long time, he was starting to believe it could lead somewhere worthwhile. 

“Y’know, when I was little, my dad used to take me here,” Yosuke said suddenly, and Souji was all ears, happy for the attention to move away from himself but even happier to learn anything he could about Yosuke. “He would sit me right there,” Yosuke said, pointing to a spot on the beach. “And he would sing to me and teach me how to play the guitar. Those were some of the best moments of my life.” 

Souji looked at that spot on the beach, trying to imagine a little Yosuke with his dad. He wished he had been there, that he would have happened to be walking by one of those times, so he could have met Yosuke sooner. 

“So he’s the one who got you into music, huh?” Souji mused. “I’ll have to thank him when I meet him.” 

“I  _ really _ wish you could,” Yosuke said with a distinct quiver in his voice that made Souji stop in his tracks and made his heart flutter in panic. “He, um, died when I was still little.” 

“I’m so sorry,” Souji said quickly, all his protective instincts rising up within him. “We can go somewhere else, or I can take you home—”

“No! No no no, it’s fine,” Yosuke stuttered, collecting himself and giving Souji a smile. “I’m good!” 

“Are you sure?” Souji asked, concerned with how hard Yosuke was trying to reassure him. 

“Yeah, totally. I promise,” Yosuke breathed, his forced smile fading into a more natural one. “I like being here. With you.” 

Souji felt the urge to thank Yosuke, but that was probably weird, so he bit his tongue. Instead, he reached out his hand, which Yosuke quickly took, and they continued walking down the dock. 

“Wanna see something cool?” Souji asked, wanting to lighten the mood. 

“Besides you?” Yosuke immediately asked, but then his face paled. “Uh, I mean, I’d love to!” 

Souji just chuckled, lightly swinging their joined hands. 

A little ways farther down the dock, Souji stopped them at a particular familiar boat.

“Here it is,” he said cheerfully, hoping Yosuke would actually think it was cool. 

Looking up to the very top of the mast, Yosuke asked, “Is this yours?” 

“Haha, no, it’s not mine. It belongs to my old history teacher from Yasogami. She’s on a trip to Egypt for the summer, so she’s having me look after it for her.” 

_ “Queen Tut,”  _ Yosuke said, reading the name on the side of the boat. “This is so cool.” 

“It’s a completely custom sailboat. Definitely one of the cooler ones I’ve seen,” Souji agreed, carefully climbing up onto the boat and then giving Yosuke a hand up so he wouldn’t slip. “One of these days, if you want, we could take it for a sail around the harbor and watch the sunset.” 

For some reason, Yosuke’s breath hitched, and he dropped Souji’s hand. He turned his head toward the horizon, momentarily hiding his face from Souji’s view. 

Souji braced a hand against the mast for support, wanting so badly for Yosuke to say yes, to accept his invitation not just for a sail around the harbor, but for continuing to spend time together for the foreseeable future. 

Yosuke turned back to Souji and very quietly said, “That sounds… perfect.” 

_ You’re perfect, _ Souji thought, heart racing and mind reeling and soul crackling with pent-up electricity.

“I need to tell you something.”

Yosuke frowned a little while searching Souji’s face, and while Souji realized he probably shouldn’t have said that so abruptly or with so much intensity, it warmed him through to see Yosuke’s concern for him. 

“I’m listening,” Yosuke said with an encouraging nod. 

“Right,” Souji said, not having prepared for this at all. “So, uh, my audacity may or may not have made this relatively clear already, but…”

Souji stopped when Yosuke’s lips lifted at the corners. 

Trying to regain his focus, Souji continued, “I am…  _ interested _ in you. And  _ wow, _ that’s the lamest and most bland way to say what I’m trying to say. I’m so sorry.” 

At least Yosuke seemed amused. “Hey, you don’t have to apologize. Permission to say what you’re trying to say however you need to say it.” 

Yosuke’s words gave Souji a boost of courage, but he still had his reservations. “Even if it’s weird? Or blunt?” 

“I mean, you’ve gotten plenty of unfiltered verbal spewing from me so far. Hit me with your best shot!”

“Okay,” Souji said, taking a deep breath and giving himself temporary license to make a complete fool of himself. “I think you’re really hot. Uh, that’s really shallow to start with, but it’s very apparent… to my eyes…”

Yosuke looked like he wanted to burst out laughing, but he held it in like the sweetheart he was. 

Souji continued, “I like looking at you. You’re so cute. And it’s really adorable when you freak out around me? It really boosts my ego that I make you so nervous. But, uh, more importantly, I want to get to the point where you feel comfortable around me. Yeah, I want to spend more time with you, preferably a lot of it! Because I’ve enjoyed every second we’ve had together so far, seriously, even when you were running away from me, which is probably strange… but uh, you run really fast! You’ve got… good form… I feel like I’m messing this up. Am I messing this up?”

“No! This is great. This makes me feel a lot better about myself,” Yosuke teased gently, which only charmed Souji further. “Please continue!”

Souji couldn’t help but laugh a little. “I never get tongue-tied like this, probably because I never talk this much. I just… I really don’t know how to say exactly how I feel…”

“Maybe a metaphor?” Yosuke suggested, sounding casual but also sporting the most lovely blush on his cheeks. “I use those a lot when I write songs.” 

“Okay,” Souji said with a nod as the gears in his head turned. “You give me butterflies? Not really butterflies, more like caterpillars crawling around in my stomach. Wait, no, that’s not a romantic image at all. Forget I said that... I just need you to know that I think you’re really talented, and funny, and bright—bright in the smart sense, but also bright in the personality sense? Oh wait… you know how sunflowers turn toward the sun? I feel like I’m a sunflower, and I can turn to you for a source of light.”

Yosuke’s lips parted, and then tears started to form in his eyes, which made Souji’s heart pang painfully. 

Looking sideways so he could finish what he was saying without getting completely swept away in Yosuke’s display of emotion, Souji said, “I just want to stare at you and be near you and absorb, all your you-ness… and that’s the worst, cheesiest thing I’ve ever said, but that’s… that’s how I feel. All right, I’m done now.” 

_ “That’s _ the metaphor you’re choosing? Seriously?” 

Looking back to Yosuke, Souji gulped and said, “Um, yes?” 

Yosuke looked stunned and a little lost, though Souji wasn’t sure why. 

“Just to clarify,” Yosuke said, “you’re saying, in this metaphor, that you’re a sunflower, and I’m your sun? Me?” he asked, pointing to himself. 

“Wow, it’s even more embarrassing to hear it repeated back to me…” Souji muttered. “But yes. That’s what I’m saying.” 

Tears continued to well up in Yosuke’s pretty brown eyes, and while Souji couldn’t quite place the tears, they stirred up something inside him so fierce and deep and  _ urgent _ that he could almost burst. 

Love, perhaps. 

Yosuke moved closer, as close as they had been when they were dancing, his eyes dark as his gaze roved over Souji’s face. 

“Are you perfect?” Yosuke asked with a shaky voice and a shaky hand that once again came to rest against the side of Souji’s face. 

“No?” Souji said uncertainly, remembering that Yosuke had asked the same question once before. 

How could he ask the same question  _ now _ though, after Souji had just stumbled through the world’s most awkward confession, after he’d told Yosuke about the thing he was most ashamed of that had left him floundering without a future, after he’d witnessed firsthand how Souji was inferior to Yosuke in every way possible and was just a pathetic little sunflower that didn’t deserve to bask in Yosuke’s sunlight? 

Just then, a particularly strong gust of wind rocked the boat and pushed Yosuke even closer to Souji, who caught Yosuke by the waist. 

Yosuke smiled as he tilted his head. “Beg to differ.” 

Souji smiled back, and as soon as his lips touched Yosuke’s, nothing else mattered—not his past, not his future—only this warm, bright, perfect moment, with this warm, bright, perfect person. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :')


	24. Truck

As Souji drove up Yosuke’s street to take him home, his truck started to shake, a symptom he was unfortunately very familiar with at this point. 

“This truck is pretty old,” he started to explain preemptively. “I’ve fixed what I could, but it’s on its last leg.” 

“So the shaking isn’t normal?” Yosuke asked good-humoredly, reaching up for the grab handle above his window. “I’ve never been in a truck before, so I wasn’t sure!” 

“This is another hand-me-down from my uncle, back from his bachelor days,” Souji explained, holding tightly onto the wheel as the shaking increased. “Once my cousin was born, my aunt made him get a minivan.”

Yosuke looked behind himself, visually confirming that there was no backseat in the small cabin. 

“Well, that’s probably for the best,” he said, glad he was holding onto something when the truck suddenly lurched forward. “Wouldn’t want Baby bouncing around in the truck bed!” 

“Yeah, that would be bad for a number of reasons,” Souji said as he gently applied the brakes. 

The truck stuttered to a stop just short of Yosuke’s driveway, and Souji quickly shut the engine off so it could have a minute to cool down. He didn’t want Yosuke’s last impression of their otherwise amazing evening together to be plumes of smoke pouring out from under his hood. 

Trying not to laugh as he released his grip on the grab handle, Yosuke decided to redirect the subject to a question he’d meant to ask Souji earlier in the evening. 

“So hey, now that you’re not going to Berkeley, what are you gonna do instead?”

Souji gripped the steering wheel for a moment but then let it go as soon as he realized his knuckles were going white. 

“I don’t know anymore,” he answered honestly. “I had a few ideas, but nothing’s set in stone.” 

Intrigued, Yosuke unfastened his seatbelt and turned his body more towards Souji. 

“What kinds of ideas?” 

Suddenly feeling self-conscious, Souji said, “Well, they’re mostly pretty boring…” 

“Okay, then tell me about the most exciting one,” Yosuke suggested, and Souji knew then he would have to cough up an actual answer, even if it was embarrassing. 

“I’ve been saving up for a new car, because obviously I need a new one…”

“Obviously,” Yosuke agreed with a chuckle.

“I should have enough by the end of the summer, and then I was thinking I could do a cross-country roadtrip.”

“Oh, wow. That _is_ exciting!” Yosuke said, seemingly genuinely interested. “Going to visit someone?” 

“Not really. It sounds dumb when I say it now, but—”

Yosuke interrupted, “It doesn’t.” 

“It’s just, I feel like I’ve been in the pool all my life, and I haven’t gotten to see much else,” Souji said, still not liking how his half-baked plan sounded out loud. “And I don’t know, maybe along the way, I’ll figure out what’s next.” 

Yosuke nodded thoughtfully, staring out the windshield. “Chie and I always used to talk about driving around the country, but like, in a big fancy tour bus. Not like that’ll actually ever happen, but it’s still fun to imagine sometimes. But I say, if you have the opportunity, and if that’s really what you want to do, go for it!”

“That’s the thing; I don’t really know if that’s what I want to do,” Souji said, taking Yosuke’s hand and looking into his eyes. “There are some really good reasons to stick around here.” 

Yosuke looked down at their hands, smiling shyly. “That was a good one, Seta. That was smooth.”

“Was it? I felt really lame as soon as I said it,” Souji admitted, his heart already feeling lighter.

“Okay, well, there was some smoothness and some lameness,” Yosuke decided, laughing. “It had layers!” 

“Wow, you really get me,” Souji said, smiling as Yosuke laughed harder. “Hey, what are you doing—”

“Me? Um, I don’t really know either! I think I might take some classes online, but other than that, I’ll just be, y’know, here,” he said, gesturing to his house. 

“Good to know,” Souji said, genuinely glad to have that information. “But I was going to ask what you’re doing tomorrow.”

“Oh! Tomorrow! Haha, whoops. Well, tomorrow night I’ve got that Pride and Prejudice marathon I promised my mom, and I’m… I’m busy during the day… but I could try to get out of the marathon?” 

Souji shook his head. “Don’t break your promise to your mom for me. I want her to like me, after all.”

Cheeks flushing at the prospect of Souji thinking that far ahead, Yosuke stuttered, “R-right.” 

“How about the next day?” Souji asked, not sure what he had going on that day but sure it wasn’t important compared to getting to see Yosuke again. 

“I… can be free at night.”

“Perfect,” Souji said, already excited for their next meeting. “I’ll see you then.” 

“I’ll see you then,” Yosuke parroted, giving Souji’s hand a squeeze and then letting it go so he could swiftly exit the truck before Souji tried to walk him to the door, in case his mom was perched inside the door with her weapon of choice. 

Patting the steering wheel, Souji promised, “I’ll try and get this thing running semi-smoothly again before I come pick you up.” 

“Haha, good luck!” Yosuke said, shutting the door behind himself. 

“Thanks, I’ll need it,” Souji sighed. “But anyways… Good night, Yosuke Hanamura.” 

“Good night, Souji Seta,” Yosuke said warmly.

He turned to walk toward his house, but he only managed a couple steps before coming to an abrupt stop, knowing he had to get _something_ off of his chest. 

He spun back around, leaned in the passenger window, and exclaimed, “I’ve got something to tell you!”

“Hm? What is it?” Souji asked, looking caught off guard.

Yosuke took a deep breath and then confessed, “The night we met, I lied to you! My cat didn’t actually die!” 

Souji burst out laughing. “Yeah, I kind of figured!”

“I don’t have a cat. I’ve _never_ had a cat!” Yosuke admitted, starting to talk faster and faster. “At first I was gonna say a _person_ had died, but then I thought that was too dark, and I love cats, so that was the next living being that came to mind, and I realize that’s also dark, but at the time, in the moment, it was too late and things were already coming out of my mouth, and—”

“It’s okay,” Souji said, trying to calm Yosuke down. “It’s a relief, honestly. I’m glad no actual cats were harmed in the making of this relationship.” 

“Relationship?” Yosuke said, his mouth going dry. 

A piece of a conversation he’d had with Chie suddenly resurfaced in his mind. 

_“If you’re gonna see him again—if you wanna date him—you have to tell him the truth.”_

_“I’m not even sure he would be interested in something like that, so why treat this like something serious when it’s not?_

“That sounds… serious,” Yosuke finally said. 

“Oh, I didn’t mean to…” Souji said, looking alarmed. “I’m sorry.” 

“Hey, no, don’t worry about it,” Yosuke said, silently cursing his big mouth. 

He would tell Souji when he was ready, and if there was one thing Yosuke knew for certain, he was _not_ ready right now. 

Still, he didn’t want to leave things on a bad or awkward note, so he told Souji one other thing he knew for certain: “You’re great, Souji. I like you. A lot. A whole lot!”

Souji immediately went starry-eyed, and Yosuke’s stomach churned with guilt; it was getting harder and harder to deny how much Souji liked him in return. 

“I’ll see you soon, okay?” Yosuke said softly, waving through the window. 

Souji nodded and waved back in a daze, and Yosuke forced himself to scurry away toward the safety of his house without looking back. When he got to the porch, he heard Souji’s truck start back up, but when he didn’t hear it pull away, he just _had_ to look back. 

Souji waved happily, and Yosuke waved back, wondering if Souji was really going to wait until Yosuke was in the house to drive away. 

Testing his theory, he punched in the numerical code to unlock the front door (the month and day of his dad’s birthday) and went inside, giving Souji one last wave before shutting the door. 

Just as he expected, he heard the truck finally pull away, and he smiled to himself at how cute it was that Souji had waited. 

Souji was gentle, and kind, and patient—Yosuke only hoped he could rely on Souji to continue to be all those things when the time came to tell him the truth. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’ll delete this note later, but I’m gonna take a week off to catch up on some things, so the next chapter will be up in 2 weeks, and then we’ll be back to weekly updates.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [You got the beat?](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27358366) by [MudkipBrony](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MudkipBrony/pseuds/MudkipBrony)




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